A comprehensive overview of the Emirati artist's practice, with numerous archive documents.
Evoking the far-ranging scope and unique vantage point of Abdullah Al Saadi's work, this book aims to present an important cross-section of his prolific and inimitable practice. Generated solely from the efforts and archives of the Sharjah Art Foundation in collaboration with the artist and local cultural organisations, it is by no means an attempt at a definitive or exhaustive volume; instead, it intends to crystallise and ground the human and environmental narratives at the core of Al Saadi's work. Featuring extracts from the artist's sketchbooks and journals, as well as his installations and live documentation of his travels, the monograph is an initiation into Al Saadi's life and art, and we hope, a catalyst for further research into artistic practices beyond the canon and an initiation into environmental and land art from the region on its own terms.
Abdullah Al Saadi (born 1967 in Khorfakkan) is an Emirati artist. As one of the "Pioneer Five" conceptual artists, alongside
Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Hassan Sharif, Hussain Sharif, and Mohammed Kazem, he bolstered the UAE contemporary art scene in the 1980s and influenced a generation of artists in the region. He studied English literature at United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, before studying Japanese painting at Kyoto Seika University in Japan from 1994 to 1996.
Al Saadi's work ranges from painting, drawing and elaborate artists' notebooks to the collection and systematic categorisation of found objects and the invention of new alphabets. A great affinity with nature and rural life informs the artist's practice, which explores local environments as well as the intersections of personal and cultural histories.
In 2021, his work was included in the permanent Public Art Programme of Expo 2020 Dubai. He has also participated in a number of group and solo exhibitions, including Sharjah Biennial 12 and 13 (2015, 2017);
Here and Elsewhere, New Museum, New York (2014);
Al-Toubay, Sharjah Art Foundation (2014);
Emirati Expressions: Realised, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi (2013); La Biennale di Venezia (2011, 2015);
Languages of the Desert, Kunstmuseum Bonn (2005); Bienal de São Paulo (2004); and
The Art of the Five from the United Arab Emirates, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (2002).
