L13009

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Lot 36
  • 36

Faig Ahmed

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Description

  • Faig Ahmed
  • Flood of Yellow Light
  • signed and dated 2012 on the reverse
  • handmade wool carpet
  • 200 by 150cm.; 78 3/8 by 59in.
  • Executed in 2012, this work is number 1 from an edition of 2.

Provenance

Yay! Gallery, Baku

Exhibited

Baku, Kicik Qalart Gallery, Actual Tradition, 2012
Baku, Museum of Modern Art, Merging Bridges, 2012, p. 24, illustrated in colour

Catalogue Note

Faig Ahmed manipulates the traditional Azerbaijani carpet pattern by deconstructing the folkloric symbolism and structures of profound Eastern philosophies ingrained in its visual language. Playful pixilation, application of external imagery and optical distortions subvert the traditions maintained through centuries, appropriating this ancient craft into the domain of contemporary art.

In Flood of Yellow Light, Ahmed wove the most widely used ochre thread so as to give an impression of yellow liquid spilling over an otherwise conventional carpet. The monotone intensity of yellow almost wipes away the traditional pattern making way for a new, clean slate. By 'painting in thread' and hanging his works on a wall, Ahmed at the same time elevates these familiar carpets, locally produced in innumerable multiples and widely used in everyday life, back into the realm of fine art.

Speaking about this work, the artist says, "The work with a carpet, unto which a yellow liquid is spilt, is a defiance of all past, everything that was before. It is not a minute change, but rather a firm and decisive one", adding "…perhaps it is necessary to cut off the past abruptly, in order maintain it in our memory in its original state, without it becoming a modified part of our present".