Faig Ahmed Redfines the Traditional - Hi-Fructose Magazine

"Ahmed reshapes traditional motifs in his hypnotizing, hand-woven works, creating rugs that must be reckoned with rather than walked upon. In some pieces, patterns appear to bubble or melt into oil slicks of color. In others, graffiti-style lettering, cartoon characters, or pixel-like blocks overlap with the typical, ornate flourishes. Ahmed inserts elements of contemporary culture into objects culled from a longstanding tradition."

"Many Western readers are familiar with Persian rug knock-offs spun from acrylic threads and perhaps even grew up with them in their homes. These ornate carpets entered the European consciousness as early as the thirteenth century. Renaissance paintings often feature them in the backgrounds of Annunciation scenes and portraits of the Virgin Mary. Commodified and removed from their original context over the centuries, these carpets have been fundamentally stripped of meaning and turned into kitsch objects in Europe and the U.S."

"But in Azerbaijan, carpet-making is an age-old craft as well as a source of cultural pride. Steeped in a tradition of weaving that dates back to the fourth millennium BCE, these decorative objects are a ubiquitous feature of Azerbaijani homes to this day. With a variety of regional schools within the nation, Azerbaijani rugs stand out from other Middle Eastern traditions with their angular, geometric designs."

Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed creates experimental, sculptural reinterpretations of Middle Eastern carpets that resist functional use. He manipulates traditional motifs so patterns bubble, melt, fragment, or collide with graffiti, cartoons, and pixel-like forms. The works remain hand-woven, combining contemporary imagery with centuries-old weaving techniques. Azerbaijani carpet-making endures as a cultural craft and symbol of home, hospitality, and family values, distinguished by regional, angular geometric designs. Western commodification has often stripped similar carpets of context, turning them into mass-produced, kitsch objects removed from original cultural meaning.

Read at Hi-Fructose Magazine - The New Contemporary Art Magazine