Mohammed: I like to keep the door open, even in the summertime. I need to feel some contact with the outside, because it feels like I’m living in a closed box. I am already boxed right now, but I mean…
MEA: I notice a lot of these older artists prefer to be outside, whether it’s Abdullah Al Saadi, or Dr. Mohammed Yousif who actually prefers his artworks to be exhibited outside. And they’re all planting too. Do you camp in these mountains up here?
Mohammed hands me a basket with black seeds, bananas, a type of desert fruit, and three kinds of dates.
Mohammed: Yes I always have gone camping alone. I started even before high school. But that was only Friday morning until evening because my parents didn’t allow me to stay outside for the night. When I got older, I made my own tents out of catan leather and I wrapped it by wire. I used to go for two weeks, all alone. I enjoy walking in the mountains, moving the stones and looking at the creatures like small animals and plants. I see foxes, wolves, and big sand cats, if you’re lucky. I swear I hear the cat’s voice. (Mohammed proceeds to screech) I hear it all of the night like this!
The artist's backyard. Courtesy of Suzy Sikorski.
MEA: Is hiking your escape?
Mohammed: It’s not an escape, it’s just a way to be by myself, to focus on what I am doing. I have nobody to share my thoughts, my ideas, and even what my ears hear. All I can do is listen to the nature, the plants and the rocks.
MEA: What is so special about Khorfakkan to you?
Mohammed: Khorfakkan is surrounded by 3 sides by mountains and one side by the sea. As a child, I couldn’t see the sunset, because the sun sets behind the mountain. Because of this, we have a kind of different lighting here, especially the period from afternoon until dark. This affects me. For example, when I go to Dubai or Sharjah, you can see the sunset and the light feels stronger. So the light and sunset affect my eyes. Can you believe as a child I couldn’t witness the sunset from my neighborhood? It wasn’t important for me to enjoy the sunset or sunrise, because I am not really a romantic, but as I have grown older I focus on what’s behind that empty feeling, and what this lighting gives me.
MEA: I would love to have both the mountain and sea as my backyard too. I’m sure it allows for realizing monumental projects.
Mohammed: Yes, I grew up surrounded by this area, with these same mountains and this same sea. Especially during the sandstorms. I love when nature becomes angry. I found myself however closer to the mountains more than the sea. I spent my life closer to these mountains, and for the most part my materials have been taken into the mountainside. I do experiment a bit in our seaside, by putting rocks in the sea and seeing how the ocean affects these arrangements. I enjoy not knowing how it will be affected, whether small creatures or the tides may change it or even destroy it. When I go back to collect it, I usually can’t find it. I want to create a place for the creatures and plants, so the divers can go inside and see what they can find. On land hope to make a hole in the mountain to allow more light to come through to see more of the sunset. Think of all you can do if you had 5 minutes more lighting?
Courtesy of Suzy Sikorski
MEA: Do you constantly find yourself in nature and thinking should I use this as part of my artwork?
Courtesy of the artist and Cuadro Gallery
Mohammed: The nature is not only existing in forests or mountains. Even if you are in the middle of the city, there is nature, but it just depends on where you are looking. I can construct my art in a roundabout if I had the space, or in building corridors.
Courtesy of the artist and Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation
MEA: Do you change the form of the collected objects, as in break or crush them?
Mohammed: No, I never want to harm nature. I may turn around my works such as the stones, or I may wrap them. When I use the branches as example I don’t break the branches from the trees. I just collect what’s falling down, including the trees, the branches. I use what the nature leaves. The nature is my friend, so I don’t want to disturb it.
MEA: On this subject, do you have a garbage?
Mohammed: Just put it anywhere on the floor, I use it for my compost.
MEA: You and my grandfather have something in common then.
MEA: So you think there is still nature, even on Sheikh Zayed Road?
Mohammed: There is nature of course there, but it’s just different. Every place has its own atmosphere. Nature is everywhere, even in your apartment house, but it just depends on how you can feel and find it. You don’t have to spend the time in the mountains, desert or sea
MEA: Do you find that Khorfakkan is very much alive and busy although it’s such a tiny town?
Mohammed: Yes, it’s an extremely alive environment. In your social life, you will never be alone here. If you need help you are surrounded by your relatives, and everyone knows each other. We feel like a big family in Khorfakkan and that gives us a different feeling that you cannot get in the big cities where you don’t even know who your neighbor is.
MEA: Was there any place that you just felt homesick that you missed the mountains?
Mohammed: No I always adjusted. I never had the shock or had something with the new and foreign places. Sometimes the weather may affect me, since I come from a desert land, but you notice many other places have this as well. For example I just came back from Kochi in India. It’s very hot, maybe around 98 degrees. I’ve also spent a few winters in Europe. You can just say this is a brown desert and the wintertime in other places is a white desert!
MEA: Do you see your artwork existing inside or outside?
Mohammed: Outside, because it can deal with the nature and feel more alive, whether rusting, changing its color or material. Even the rocks, if you find some bird droppings or dust, that it means it’s changing.
MEA: How do you see the artwork inside though in galleries or museums?
Courtesy of the artist and Cuadro Gallery
Mohammed: You have to do this like this because in the end you cannot bring the mountain inside the gallery, you can only bring a photo. The idea is there, only by a photo or land art.
MEA: I think it is helping you notice the nature even in the busy cities. Maybe small animals, bugs or the winds.
Mohammed: We are surrounded by everything, everywhere. You can put one idea in your mind, such as I want to buy this one car brand and you ask your friends. And they say ‘no don’t buy it, nobody will buy it.’ When you walk on the street, you see it everywhere, in front of you back. You didn’t notice it before because you weren’t looking for it. That is the same way with the nature. I am focusing on the nature so that I can see it everywhere, in the streets and in the cities.
MEA: Did you have a big group of friends here growing up?
Courtesy of the artist and Cuadro Gallery
Mohammed: Yes, but now I don’t see them regularly, because I have a different kind of thinking and doing. I have my own art, and by chance I might see them, and they may visit but they are talking about something else, and it directs me away from my art. Now I try to be away from them, not isolated, but if I talk for 5 minutes about something I’m not interested, I find it’s 5 minutes that I could’ve devoted to my own art. I have to think about that in this age, I have no time to waste. I have my kids at least, and they are my close friends.
MEA: Abdullah Al Saadi was telling me his children teach him something.
Mohammed: Yes of course, my grandkids are even teaching me. Learning is a non-stop process. You can learn from anyone.
MEA: On the subject of teaching, did you feel bound to teach? Some artists have that natural talent.
Mohammed: I taught for almost 4 years at Khorfakkan Art Center until 1996. I was alone, but in the summer time I hired some artists and teachers, with the hopes they would teach in different styles. It’s vital to give students some change, and some different kinds of skills in painting, drawing, and art history.
MEA: How did you come upon art, were you always artistic as a kid, what was your earliest experience with art?
Mohammed: You cannot say a specific date, but it happened in primary school. My parents and teachers found it in me, and they started giving me special attention. I went to Kuwait at 8 years old (1970), and then finished high school here.
MEA: I’m sure Kuwait was a wonderful exposure to the arts.
Mohammed: Yes they were excellent in handicraft, and they offered drawing workshops. You could get really good art materials there at the time. When I came back here there wasn’t much, just Chinese oil ink colors that were very cheap in Khorfakkan shops. After 3-4 months of painting, the Chinese ink would turn brown. Even Sharjah had only one shop during that time and canvas wasn’t available, only paper. We learned to make our own canvas by fabric and we would mix material with glue and linseed oil to make our primer.
MEA: Who was “we”?
Mohammed: Me, Hassan Sharif, Mohammed Kazem, Abdullah Al Saadi. All artists here were doing the same. I was studying at Al Ain University at the time and I had a friend Ali Andal who studied Psychology with me. That is where I met Sharif and Kazem at the art society. Kazem was only about 16 years old. His painting was bigger than him!
MEA: Why psychology though?
Mohammed: I always wanted to be an artist since a young age, but unfortunately when I graduated in 1980, the UAE stopped sending students to study art abroad. This continued until a long time. I decided the best option, since there were not fine art degrees in the UAE, was to study psychology since it connects closely with art. During this time the books we read were only English, and there were only 3 or 4 books from Iraq or Syria. I remember having to carry a big dictionary, taking 1 whole hour to translate 1 page of Freud.
MEA: Was anyone showing you art history books?
Mohammed: No, but I read books on art history on my own. My brother in law was studying in England at the time and he would send me one or two books a month, and I started to read this, and got the basis for art history. I would paint in my dorm, and when my friends visited me they complained of the turpentine smell.
MEA: Your roommate must’ve hated it..
Courtesy of the artist and Cuadro Gallery
Mohammed: No luckily I had a single but I bought this air freshener and I would put it everywhere to remove the turpentine fumes
MEA: Were there anyone who could help teach you at the Emirates Fine Art Society??
Mohammed: I studied techniques with Yasir Dwaick, he taught me some techniques, with oil colors, water colors and repairing the canvas. But nobody taught me the history except for myself.
MEA: Do you think that was what made the group so strong, that everyone was fending for themselves and trying to cope with being an artist when no one else was in the UAE?
Mohammed: Art is a language and you need somebody to understand your language. We were just five people that could read each other’s language. There was also artist Abdul Rahim Salem, Dr. Mohamed Yousif, but they had different languages
MEA: When was the first time you exhibited your work?
Mohammed: 1986 in the Annual Emirates Fine Art Society exhibition. Ali Andal, my friend from university saw what I was reading and creating and he mentioned I should visit the Society. I brought a car full of my paintings with me to Sharjah, and showed Hassan Sharif. Hassan just arrived from his study in England and he knew exactly what I was doing in my art.
MEA: Was it this first time you were able to realize someone is thinking like you?
Mohammed: Yes. Sharif and the Art Society opened doors for me to meet with artists like Abdullah Al Saadi, and poets like Ahmed Rashid Thani, Adel Khozam, Abdulziz Al Jassim. Then there was Khalid Al Budoor, Nujoom Al Ghanem. We were all very active. We met each other once a week so we had good conversations together and exchanged books we took an interest in. It was a very important period for us.
MEA: Do you meet with these artists still with the EFAS group?
Mohammed: Yes it’s still alive but everyone is busy with their life. Everyone was young, active and we didn’t have responsibilities like now, when we are married and caring about kids and now we really have to focus on art more because we are limited with age. When you are 30, you have more time. But I am 54, and I am very limited. So I have to work all the time. Especially when Hassan passed away, before every week I would chat with him to talk about the art and talk together about personal issue. Hassan has left a legacy, and a part of him will always surround us.
MEA: Did you have a mentor in art, or literature that has impacted?
Mohammed: We were all mentoring each other in some ways, but ultimately it’s up to the artist to trust him/herself.
MEA: I just ask because Hassan talked about Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) in his earlier writings, and I consider that a mentor for him.
Courtesy of the artist and Cuadro Gallery
Mohammed: Well of course Duchamp inspired me, and for me specifically Paul Klee (1903-1940), Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Robert Smithson (1938-1973). Us artists are not coming from nothing. We are standing on these earlier artists’ shoulders and that is how the contemporary sustains power. Smithson’s ideas give me more power to push forward in land art and “earthwork” especially Smithson’s projects venerating Central Park. It was very important for land art during that time. It is giving me a feeling that I am not alone in this world and inspires me to share this knowledge with everyone. This kind of experience provides me the resources and I’m happy to see someone else is out there like me. You can’t uncover information and hide it from the people. We are sharing in all of these ideas together.
Courtesy of the artist and Cuadro Gallery
MEA: I think it’s necessary to show in the West that exchange has been taking place for a while. And now you are exhibiting in galleries, but it is so integral to feature this exchange, and showing how similar people have thought around the world despite available resources.
Mohammed: In the end we find people with same thinking, same language and with the art masters. This is how we are communicating with the world because in the end the humanity is universal. It doesn’t depend on religion or anything else, but it depends on how to think.
MEA: What’s your normal day like?
Mohammed: I work from 7 until 3pm. From about 5-10pm I become like a factory. I come to my studio here just to make art. Even during my vacations I make art.
MEA: I’m sure you faced many challenges growing up.
Mohammed: The new generation is teaching me, they’re not going to take my place. It’s about exchanging. I’m not going to stay old all my life in Khorfakkan, and it’s necessary for me to pass on my ideas to the younger generations. They have new kinds of ideas and experiences especially with technology. And they will continue your movement. Every new generation is going to take their job.
MEA: What was one of the biggest challenges for you growing up?
Mohammed: The information for the art. It was a very big challenge to find that. Then I found the art is not just a painting, there is a message behind the art. I like to send my message through the art.
MEA: What is something about you that I don’t know?
Mohammed: I worked in a bank for six years from 2000-06 after leaving the Khorfakkan Art Center. I used to be a manager directing three branches. Then one night I decided to leave.
MEA: Do you think banking helped you create art?
Mohammed: Yes, I would paint after I worked. See that box? (pointing to a box at the corner of the room) For six years I had no waste basket at the office, and everyday I would collect the paper and compress it into that box. I still haven’t exhibited it. I would label that as my ‘bank period.’
MEA: Was there a period you stopped practicing art?
Mohammed: Never.I haven’t stopped. Every single day I do art.
MEA: What advice would you say to younger practicing artists?
Mohammed: It’s necessary to believe in yourself, believe in you art, and put an honest aim for you, so you have to focus in your art and trace your art. When you’re doing art, of course you will meet people with the same language, and same thinking. Some good and bad things in terms of the art scene are happening in the UAE. Maybe some artists are following one way and they may fall down in this track that cycles throughout their life.
MEA: Our generations are so quick to publish their work on social media, I think good advice would be to keep some things private in your life?
Mohammed: I cannot say because they are now living in a different age with different media. I cannot say this is right or wrong, and it depends on what’s happening now. The world has become a village, or the “brave modernism” in 2017. A new concept is now coming. I cannot judge for a new concept, but honesty in one’s practice is very important.
MEA: Now that your older, is there a time in your life that you miss? Do you miss The Five group? (The Five included a close knit, like-minded group of artists: Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim, Hassan Sharif, Hussein Sharif, Abdullah Al Saadi and Mohammed Kazem whose name originated out of an exhibition Five/UAE in Germany in 2002)
Mohammed: No, we cannot. Life is like a rhythm of ups and downs and this kind of moving, of researching can give you a lot of source and knowledge. The Five morphed over time, into “Four,” and then sometimes we became a “Seven.” I am not nostalgic.
MEA: Do you find young people who have the same language as you?
Mohammed: Yes in DUCTAC (referring to an exhibition, “Is Old Gold” 2017 at the Dubai Community Theatre & Arts Center curated by Cristiana de Marchi and Muhanad Ali that paired 10 younger artists in the UAE were assigned separately to work with one of The Five group.)
We are a young country, only 45 years old. So this new generation is coming, and now they are continuing. One day we are Five, next year we are Twenty and the next Fifty. It is not a decision to be a group, but they will find themselves and each other if they speak the same language.