CARPETS THAT MELT OR A LOOK TO THE PAST, BY FAIG AHMED
Apr 16, 2019
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When mastery, imagination and originality go hand in hand, we can only admire a masterpiece. This is the work of the artist Faig Ahmed, who fuses tradition with contemporaneity in his impressive braided carpets, pieces that force us to look carefully and to analyse the message that they transmit to us.
Faig Ahmed (Azerbaijan, 1982) is a tireless creator whose work rescues one of the main cultural signs of this region of the world, famous, like other surrounding countries, for its majestic carpets, a tradition that goes back several millennia ago as a sign of their collective identity to become a world reference. Their hypnotic drawings of symmetrical composition, which sometimes resemble elements seen through a kaleidoscope, unfold in layers woven of bright colours with enormous visual impact.
This practice synthesises the entire history of the Persian people until it becomes a cultural symbol that conveys a large knowledge accumulated over the centuries. This task has traditionally been attributed to women, who follow patterns of colour and composition to give the perfect finish we all know. The work of Faig Ahmed is a tribute to this meticulous and invisible work and offer a rereading that has bridges with the past.
The artist graduated in Fine Arts in Baku specialising in sculpture, and, although his production is very diverse, he has become famous for his work with carpets, a type of pieces with which he was presented in the Azerbaijan pavilion of the biennial of Venice in 2007. Today, he is part of important collections and museums around the world.
As he explains, the goal is to channel conceptual art, with a strong base of colourist abstraction, through traditional techniques, far from what is usual in the field of visual arts. In his opinion, it is essential to look at the past to find that mystical and spiritual connection that deals with the passage of time and our location at the moment of history. His work raises an open question about what is true and what is not, what should be, what we really see, and how much we owe to our cultural heritage to be where we are today.
The result is an eclectic work, which mixes disciplines and techniques, in large projects on which he previously works on a computer. A task of decomposition and deconstruction that he carries out with great inspiration to give rise to something completely new and fascinating.
