Unravelling Tradition: The Vocabulary of Carpets in Contemporary Art
In today’s world, there aren’t many great aesthetic traditions left to subvert. From pop-art to kitsch, and ever more rapidly in our post internet age, our perceptions, expectations, of traditional imagery have steadily altered. One might think that an artist seeking to rely on irony, defilement or unexpected uses of familiar forms would find the world’s supply exhausted. Not so. A number of contemporary artists have found inspiration in a virgin medium – the Oriental carpet.
Oriental carpets are incarnations of the ‘traditional’. They are prescriptive in design and the product of a continuous tradition; they are the antithesis of the contemporary. This contrast forms the central conceit of the installations created by the Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed. His work is characterised by a provocative relationship with formality, and traditional textiles are the foil to his rebellion. His pieces are recognisably Azerbaijani rugs, brightly coloured and geometrically-patterned. Yet their modernity slaps the viewer in the face. In the hands of Ahmed, carpets melt, bulge and distort. They exceed normal parameters and seep from the wall across the gallery floor. His use of pixilation and warping draws from op-art and digital internet aesthetics. One carpet liquefies Oiling, another pixelates Tradition in Pixel, and one, Impossible Viscosity, is rendered in melting tatters. The textiles give an impression of disfigurement. In his installation Disconnected the central threads of a stencil-like carpet are pulled out from the wall and woven across the gallery space.
Image: Martin Roth, untitled persian rugs installation 2012.
The skeletal carpet has been eviscerated, and destruction forms an important aspect of Ahmed’s inspiration. In a 2014 interview, he said of his work that it, “has given the carpet either new life or a total death because the old meaning was destroyed completely; but at the same time it’s got a whole new meaning.” It is tempting to side with ‘total death’. To make one piece, Recycled, Ahmed sought out an old, rare Azerbaijani carpet. He turned it into a sculpture of the recycling symbol suspended above the remains of the ancient, beautiful carpet, in tatters on the floor beneath.
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Oriental carpets are incarnations of the ‘traditional’. They are prescriptive in design and the product of a continuous tradition; they are the antithesis of the contemporary. This contrast forms the central conceit of the installations created by the Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed. His work is characterised by a provocative relationship with formality, and traditional textiles are the foil to his rebellion. His pieces are recognisably Azerbaijani rugs, brightly coloured and geometrically-patterned. Yet their modernity slaps the viewer in the face. In the hands of Ahmed, carpets melt, bulge and distort. They exceed normal parameters and seep from the wall across the gallery floor. His use of pixilation and warping draws from op-art and digital internet aesthetics. One carpet liquefies Oiling, another pixelates Tradition in Pixel, and one, Impossible Viscosity, is rendered in melting tatters. The textiles give an impression of disfigurement. In his installation Disconnected the central threads of a stencil-like carpet are pulled out from the wall and woven across the gallery space.
The skeletal carpet has been eviscerated, and destruction forms an important aspect of Ahmed’s inspiration. In a 2014 interview, he said of his work that it, “has given the carpet either new life or a total death because the old meaning was destroyed completely; but at the same time it’s got a whole new meaning.” It is tempting to side with ‘total death’. To make one piece, Recycled, Ahmed sought out an old, rare Azerbaijani carpet. He turned it into a sculpture of the recycling symbol suspended above the remains of the ancient, beautiful carpet, in tatters on the floor beneath.
Want to read more of this article?
We are proud to be a subscriber-funded publication with members in 185 countries. We know our readership is passionate about textiles, so we invite you to help us preserve and promote the stories, memories, and histories that fabric holds. Your support allows us to publish our magazine, and also ‘what's on’ information, and subscription interviews, reviews, and long-read articles in our online blog.
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? CLICK HERE TO ACCESS CONTENT
OR...to continue reading….
*Magazine subscribers automatically get free access to all our online content. We send the access code by email with the publication of each issue. You will also find it on the envelope containing your magazine. Please note the access code changes every issue.*