Abdullah Sheikh A Saudi plastic artist, born in Al-Zubayr in 1936 AD (1355 AH). He is considered one of the Saudi plastic artists who enriched the local plastic scene with their works and participations, which began in the Kingdom since his launch with his solo exhibition in Al-Khobar in the Eastern Province in 1982 AD, and that was preceded by three years with a few group participations.
His upbringing and life Abdullah Abdul Karim Al-Sheikh was born in the city of Al-Zubayr in Iraq in 1355 AH / 1936 AD, where he lived his childhood and youth, and received his initial education there. He fell in love with art early on, so he joined the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad, and obtained his diploma in 1959 AD, and studied at the hands of Iraqi artists who represent the generation of pioneers in Iraq. They are ((Jawad Salim and Faiq Hassan)), and the two left a great impact on the experience of Abdullah Al-Sheikh, as the Sheikh was influenced by his brother Abdul-Jabbar Al-Yahya.
He continued his university education studying design in England and graduated in 1965 AD, and obtained a diploma in design and printing for two years.
In 1999 AD, the sheikh devoted himself to plastic art.
The artist, Abdullah Al-Sheikh, assumed several artistic assignments, including 1- Production manager of private sector printing presses in the eastern region.
2- Head of the Design Department at the Royal Commission Printing Office in Jubail Industrial City.
He was also assigned as a member of the jury on several occasions, including:
Member of the Supreme Committee for the Saudi Airlines competition in 2003. Member of the screening committee for the annual exhibition of the artists of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the thirtieth session in 2001. Member of the arbitration committee for children's drawings for the Aramco competition in 2000. Member of the jury for the Saudi Airlines competition, fourth session, 1998. Member of the jury for the Kuwait Artists Exhibition in 1997. Member of the jury for children's drawings for the Aramco competition in 1996. Chairman of the jury for the exhibitions of Jubail Industrial Schools 1995-1999. his artistic style 1- Type of artistic production:
Almost all of his artistic production is drawing and photographing two-dimensional art paintings that represent his personal memories and emotions, but we notice the inclusion of sculpture in his artistic paintings in his current stage, as he combined traditional two-dimensional painting with a three-dimensional carved surface.
2- The materials used: Acrylic colors were predominantly used in most of the Sheikh's paintings, but he added some materials such as wires and metal rings.
3- The topics of his works: “Abdullah Al-Sheikh’s works tended to highlight the troubles of the Arab person, so he tries to make his topics expressive of current human issues. » (Al-Sinan, 2001 AD).
Topics of the first stage: The topics of this stage were characterized by loyalty to the oriental character, so he drew inspiration from Arab life, Arabic poetry, folk tales, Islamic architecture, drawing the Bedouin environment and ancient alleys.
Topics of the second stage: It was an extension of the first stage in terms of topics, but it was characterized by abstraction and the tendency to simplify forms while preserving the Arab symbols such as the palm tree, the camel, and the woman’s veil.
Topics of the 1993 events: The artist Abdullah Al-Sheikh was affected by the events of the Gulf War, and that influence was evident in his “paintings that overflowed with features of the power of the harsh machine, sharp gears, military helmets, empty-mouthed pistols, and shredded metal rubble” (Dr. Thuraya Al-Areed, 5/20/1997 AD) .
Topics of the current stage: The current stage of the artist, Abdullah Al-Sheikh, was distinguished by the mixing between his previous stages, and he created a new artistic language of his own that expressed the new technical world on this earth. Or rectangular without borders, or frames encrusted in some parts with metal rings, in reference to the power of the machine over human life.
The forms that dominate his style: The forms that dominate the style of the artist Abdullah Al-Sheikh vary according to the stage. In the first stage, the shapes appeared somewhat realistic, while in the second stage, the shapes appeared more simple and abstract. And the letters on some of his paintings, while the current stage seemed abstract and organic forms.
his works and contributions His Saudi works were represented in a number of Arab and international exhibitions and biennials. He also participated in many occasions, including the Cairo Biennial, the Bangladesh Biennial, the Sharjah Biennial, the Syrian Love Festival, the Arab-Islamic Art Exhibition in Ankara, and the periodic exhibition of artists of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in most of its sessions and others, in addition to his participation in individual exhibitions. and in group indoor exhibitions. His paintings are owned by several entities, including King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Fahd Airport in Dammam, the Ministry of Interior, Saudi Aramco, the Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council and others.
characteristics of his paintings Its main characteristics and topics:
The works of the artist Abdullah Al-Sheikh tend to highlight the troubles of the Arab person. What helps the artist Abdullah Al-Sheikh to show his ideas is his good use of colors and the good composition of the painting. There are a number of Saudi artists who have adopted local traditional methods, which is the method of formulating the vocabulary of popular heritage or the Arab heritage in an effort to reach a style with a distinctive personality. The artist Abdullah Al-Sheikh belongs to this category. The Saudi photographer was able to care about heritage as a source of inspiration from it, but a number of Saudi photographers They were able to reach a new formulation far from simulation and imitation, including the artist Abdullah Al-Sheikh. He also draws contemporary man in an innovative way without details so that the artwork has a documentary expression of the state of the era and its repercussions on man. In his works, he depicts the states that afflict a person, such as oppression and loss, in order to give the work the power of influence and charge the emotion. Abdullah Al-Sheikh tries to make his topics expressive of current human issues, so he illuminates the echo of reality and translates emotions as a result of his influence on the events surrounding him, such as a group of his paintings that he called: Events 93.” (Al-Sinan, 2001 AD) Summary of the exhibition of objects of this era The Saudi plastic artist, Abdullah Al-Sheikh, displayed in his latest exhibition, titled “Things from this Age,” an artistic group that constitutes the most prominent features of his recent experience, which exceeded 60 artworks that he created from 1995 to 2007, to be qualitatively presented for the first time, in addition to more than 20 artworks. The Sheikh produced it in his artistic beginnings.
The sheikh, who was fascinated in the sixties by many composers of classical music and persevered in listening to a number of them, whether romantics, influencers or expressionists, led by the composer Shosta Kovage. His concern is enjoying the splendor of musical composition and composition, which he views as an inspiration whose melodies carry him to more spacious, enjoyable and poetic worlds. He listens to music and searches behind its author, his life, his secrets, and the period of time he lived, and he looks at their complete collections in order to compose through them readings that he was able to control and compose chromatic music that embodied a world of transformations. Spotted important things of our time.
And the author, Shusta Kovage, in his symphonic works, which he accomplished, is a cry of reprimand and sorrow, due to a fierce siege with the steps of monsters and the brutality of the Nazi armies, about which Abdullah Al-Sheikh says: “What the Shusta period bears is not far from the state of our Arab nation, which suffers from problems and instability due to the bombs in Baghdad.” Beirut, Palestine. In his artworks, which express the beginning of the maturity of his idea, the sheikh draws to the tunes of Shusta Kovg, which rises violently to fan, affecting and clearly the components of the painting, to show the cannons inside it from time to time. It is worth noting that this exhibition was inaugurated by His Excellency Dr. Ibrahim Al-Awaji, in the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Hall for Fine Arts, at the Capital Model Institute in Riyadh. It comes under the supervision of the Agency for Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Culture and Information. (The Arts Network, January 5)
A critical reading of the Riyadh Conquest painting In an accidental formation in which the artist relied on the balance of the plastic relations of spaces and horizontal and vertical lines represented in all its elements such as buildings, figures, horses and popular motifs, and relied on the color contrast, that is, the contrast between dark and light color spaces. It is characterized by rigor, persistence, and challenge, although it did not rely on the romantic or romantic-dramatic method in showing these expressions, but rather on the mastery of expression in straight and sharp lines that are consistent with the basic formulation of all its elements in the painting. He also depicted three horses, two in a state of launching in the direction of the march, and the third raising His head is raised towards the sky in the hope of victory, and we infer that from the movement of the horse's head and the expression on his face, and the blue background area of its, which is depicted in a color tone closer to the color of the sky at dawn, as if announcing a bright new dawn or the rise of a new dawn and is almost in the middle of this space The blue chromaticity has the element in the middle of the painting, and this color is also unique in the painting, to be the center of gravity of the painting and to highlight the importance of the element and the indication of perspective and confirm that the basic sky in the painting is dark and dark, in addition to the color contrast of the elements and the horses galloping in a dark color space at the bottom of the painting. He formulated these elements in homogeneous and interconnected geometric relationships and structures, so the composition came out tightly from the structural point of view and based on the rhythm in the beautiful contrasting colors. The artist combined in this painting between geometric and organic, and thus it can be included under the direction of abstract expressionism (Saudi Plastic Artists Exhibition, 1999).
Awards and honors The Silver Palm at the seventh session of the GCC Visual Arts Forum in Kuwait in 2003. The Golden Palm of the Gulf Cooperation Council Visual Arts Forum in the Sultanate of Oman in 2001. Prize of the National Festival for Heritage and Culture in Janadriyah in 1999. Prize of the Biennale Jury at the first Biennale of Love in Lattakia, Syria, 1995. Death The artist, Abdullah Al-Sheikh, died at the age of 83 in September 2019.
