See: A selection of works by Abdullah Al Saadi, UAE representative at Venice Biennale 2024

ArtDayME: Abdullah Al Saadi was born in 1967 and currently lives and works in Khorfakkan, in the United Arab Emirates. Al Saadi is one of a pioneering generation of Emirati artists working in the United Arab Emirates. His artistic practice, involving drawing, painting, sculpture and, more recently, performed activities, reflects on the relationships between individuals and their natural and social environment. Translation is central to Al Saadi’s work, evident in his elaborately devised symbolic forms developed as part of what might be described as intuitive systems. Through processes of collecting, indexing, and archiving, echoing the precise methodologies of scientific inquiry and classification, produced with a Zen-like application, he offers reflection on tradition and the changing relationship one might have with the physical world. The motivations for his art are especially resonant in the context of the rapid urbanisation of the United Arab Emirates. Al Saadi has exhibited his work extensively at local as well as international venues. In October 2023, it was announced that Abdullah Al Saadi will represent the UAE at the 60th International Art Exhibition of the La Biennale di Venezia, or the Venice Biennale, opening in April 2024. See a selection of the works of this prominent Emirati artist.