Mohammed Kazem already a part of history

It's impossible to classify Mohammed Kazem, to put him in a box or to reduce him to an artistic movement. He works with the same talent with painting, sound art, found objects, performance art and photography. Mohammed Kazem is really a phenomenon. As one of the greatest contemporary Emirati artists he has already left a considerable legacy on the art barometer, despite his young age (53 years). «He has already made history» confirms Jack Lang, President of the Arab World Institute. «I only try to be distinct from the rest, to be different», Kazem modestly explains.

Born in Dubai, his father a taxi driver, and his mother, Badria, a housewife, Mohammed studied painting from adolescence, at the Emirates Fine Art Society of Sharjah. A conceptual artist, he quickly began collaborating with his mentor, the artist Hassan Sharif. Kazem uses forgotten vestiges of everyday life, flags constructions or chewing gum, to assess the transformations taking place in the world, especially in his homeland, the United Arab Emirates. He does not hesitate to represent his own body in drawings, performances, and photographs. From the beginning, Kazem has created visual representations of sounds by scratching paper with scissors. Scratches on Paper is a series of works that magnify the movements and sounds of the past with sheets of writing paper or rolls several meters long.

A true ambassador of Arab art, Kazem has presented exhibitions around the world, from the Guggenheim Museum in New York to the Arab World Institute in Paris. He is a universalist, with multiple models. «I have been greatly influenced by European artists, » he says. At the beginning of my career, I was impressed by the morphological work of impressionists like Monet. I also really admired the design work of the great French, Italian and German artists. Then I evolved. I concentrated on the formal elements in the painting. Today, I draw. I work with minimalist, monochrome painting. Kazem never stops creating. «I work all the time, » he says. «I don’t work based on an exhibition or event. » Kazem is absorbed and drawn to the outside. «I need contact with the elements of nature, » he says. «I love working in the environment, especially in India, to inspire me with aspects of everyday life. I need to be alone. To immerse myself in cities, in life. I am inspired by places and their colors» The colors of Dubai, he knows well! That’s his daily life. «I’ve witnessed the development of Dubai, » he says. «I work before the architects have finished at the building-site. I saw the Burj Khalifa built from the ground up and all the towers. I talked a lot with the architects, the photographers. Inevitably, this was a transformative time that drove my art.»

Mohammed Kazem ambassadeur de l’art arabe

In his series «Directions, 2002», Kazem has constructed wooden panels inscribed with the GPS coordinates of various locations in the United Arab Emirates in the Arabian Sea, leaving them floating around geopolitical borders. The project was expanded a decade later, during an installation for the United Arab Emirates Pavilion, at the Venice Biennale 2013. Immersed in an enveloping video installation representing the sea, the spectator is projected adrift with only a set of coordinates projected on the ground to facilitate orientation. «I imagined this technique on a fishing trip with my friends, » he says. «We use GPS for fishing, which is one of my passions. And I got the idea to use GPS in the artwork. » A true ambassador of Arab art, Kazem has presented exhibitions around the world, from the Guggenheim Museum in New York to the Arab World Institute in Paris. He is a universalist, with multiple models. «I have been greatly influenced by European artists, » he says. At the beginning of my career, I was impressed by the morphological work of impressionists like Monet. I also really admired the design work of the great French, Italian and German artists. Then I evolved. I concentrated on the formal elements in the painting. Today, I draw. I work with minimalist, monochrome painting. Kazem never stops creating. «I work all the time, » he says. «I don’t work based on an exhibition or event. » Kazem is absorbed and drawn to the outside. «I need contact with the elements of nature, » he says. «I love working in the environment, especially in India, to inspire me with aspects of everyday life. I need to be alone. To immerse myself in cities, in life. I am inspired by places and their colors» The colors of Dubai, he knows well! That’s his daily life. «I’ve witnessed the development of Dubai, » he says. «I work before the architects have finished at the building-site. I saw the Burj Khalifa built from the ground up and all the towers. I talked a lot with the architects, the photographers. Inevitably, this was a transformative time that drove my art.»

Mohammed Kazem est confiant dans l’avenir de l’art arabe. « L’art arabe a été connu très tôt aux États-Unis, à la fin des années soixante-dix » dit-il. « Les États-Unis ont montré l’exemple. Aujourd’hui, j’ai beaucoup de respect pour le travail de l’Institut du Monde Arabe, de la Fondation Charjah qui donne une véritable chance à de nombreux artistes contemporains arabes. L’art arabe est aussi à l’honneur à Dubaï avec Alserkal Avenue, dans le quartier Al Quoz. Il faut remercier son fondateur et mécène Abdelmomen Alserkal. Il a créé la plateforme la plus créative de Dubaï. Aujourd’hui, l’ambition est de développer l’art populaire. »Quand il n’est pas dans son atelier, Mohammed Kazem est derrière les fourneaux. Il possède une vraie fascination pour la cuisine. « J’adore jouer avec les épices » dit-il. « Je cuisine aussi beaucoup les piments. » Il aime l’automne pour ses couleurs, la Hollande pour l’uniformité de ses saisons, la Corée du Sud pour son agitation. Épris de musique depuis l’enfance – il a même suivi des cours -, il s’évade en écoutant des orchestres de Oud, le mythique instrument à cordes pincées très populaires dans le monde arabe. Aux films, il préfère les documentaires. À l’imaginaire, il préfère le réel.