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.
Emirati artist Abdullah Al Saadi (born 1967 in Khorfakkan) is, with
Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim, Hassan Sharif, Hussain Sharif, and Mohammed Kazem, one of the "Pioneer Five" conceptual artists, who, in the 1980s, bolstered the contemporary art scene in the UAE and influenced a generation of artists in the region. Abdullah Al Saadi's work ranges from painting, drawing and the creation of lengthy 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 his practice, which explores the changing environment as well as personal and cultural history.
