Sami Mohammed: A Retrospective

This retrospective of the Kuwaiti sculptor Sami Mohammed is made up of over 120 pieces and it is the first major survey of Mohammed’s work in the country of his birth.
The chronological exhibition illuminates Mohammed‘s entire thematic arch, and features countless never – before – seen works by the foremost sculptor in the Gulf. Of particular magnitude are his earliest pieces from the 1950s and 60s, Inspired by the figurative perfection of Michelangelo and the modernism of Henry Moore and Mahmoud Mokhtar, he then developed into an influential artistic identity whose human forms transcended conservative limitations, and were widely recognized. His materials progressed form clay to plaster to wood, and ultimately he became one of the first artist in the gulf to work in bronze.

His sculptural works literally embody the physical, emotional and psychological impact of conflict. Walls break bodies, and bodies become implicit in the barriers that destroy them. Faces are bound, hollow, disturbed. The pieces jump out towards you with an alarming gestural and guttural affectation. The brutal frankness of form is so succinct that it reaches far into the depths of human suffering. And yet a space for reflection is delicately maintained, embedded within the critical voice of the author. Although his works illustrate the outer boundaries of human suffering, they also bear witness to the incredible diligence and perseverance of the human spirit to overcome the darkness that is both internal and external.

Sami Mohammed (b. 1943, Kuwait City) is a Kuwaiti sculptor, he studied at The College of Fine Arts in Cairo from 1966 to 1970 and trained as a sculptor from 1973 to 1975 at the Johnson Atelier in New Jersey, USA. He was a founding member of the Free Atelier in 1960 and a founding member of Kuwait Society for Formative Arts in 1967.
Mohammed‘s first solo exhibition was mounted in Kuwait in 1995, twenty years ago, and international exhibitions have since been held in Damascus, Cairo, Rabat, Riyadh, Tokyo, New Delhi, Athens, Cannes, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid and Frankfurt. In 2013 Mohammed represented Kuwait in its first pavilion at the Venice Biennale.