Bio
Abdulmohsen Albinali is a multimedia artist and filmmaker. Born in Saudi Arabia, he grew up in an artistic household and began exploring art from a very young age. His professional pursuit of art started in 2008 when he moved to the U.K. In 2013, Albinali relocated to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, where he became involved with several art institutions, including the Tashkeel art hub and the Emirates Fine Arts Society, while attending classes at the Sharjah Art College. Later, he enrolled at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City, graduating with a BFA in 2018.
During his time in the U.S., he was active in the local art community. Upon graduating in 2018, Albinali returned to Saudi Arabia and presented his first solo show in Khobar. In 2020, he was selected for a residency program at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France, as well as the Albalad Residency. In 2021, he joined the first cycle of the Masaha Residency at the Misk Art Institute in Riyadh and most recently, completed a residency with TBA21 in Madrid, Spain.
Albinali’s work has been featured in exhibitions at the Misk Art Institute, Hey Jameel in Jeddah, the NARS Foundation in New York, and the Berlin Art Institute. He has also held solo exhibitions at Ab-Anbar Gallery in London and CapKuwait in Kuwait. His films have been nominated for Best Short Animation at the Saudi Film Festival and the Oregon Short film festival. His second film was selected for the 2024 Red Sea Film Festival.
Between 2021 and 2023, Albinali pursued a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Slade School of Art, University College London (UCL), graduating with distinction. He was the recipient of the Gilbert Bayes Charitable Trust Grant in 2023 and the Misk Art Grant in 2022.
STATEMENT
Coming from a multi-disciplinary background, I work in several different media, producing installation and sculptural works. My practice involves experimentation with ceramics, tiles, metal, taxidermy, plants, hives, stop-motion animation, miniature landscaping, and found objects through sculpting, printmaking, collage, painting, video, and interactive media.
My work strikes an aesthetic balance between chaos and order, as well as blurring and amalgamating the lines between the artificial and organic. Objects are merged, assembled, or made with materials that serve and relate to the narratives conveyed through my artwork. My aesthetic stems from research in arts and anthropology. I explore a variety of different subject matter connected to folklore, history, archeology, and gardening through a variety of conceptual frameworks driven by an inherent fascination with the natural world.
The resulting work investigates the correlations between the collective perception of nature and our place within it. Through the use of myth as a reference point to examine the human capacity to experience nature, my works incorporate natural elements such as landscapes, ecosystems, and biodiversity.