British exhibition captivates art lovers in Eastern Province

An ongoing exhibition inaugurated on Tuesday and featuring more than 50 amazing works by renowned British artists is captivating the Eastern Province.
The visitors are enjoying being taken on an imagined journey to see for themselves how the internationally acclaimed artists at the “Out of Britain” exhibition used form, color and texture to portray the vitality of the locale in which they lived and expressed their emotional response to that environment.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Eastern Province Tourism Development Board Chairman Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Saud at Alkhobar’s Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Science and Technology Center (Scitech). It will run for three weeks.
Prominent among those who were present at the inauguration and opening reception were Roddy Drummond, charge d’affaires at the British Embassy in Riyadh; Adrian Chadwick, director of British Council in Saudi Arabia; and Scitech General Manager Dr. Hassan bin Musaed Al-Ahmadi.
Drummond and Chadwick were delighted at the exciting response. “The opening of this important exhibition is significant in that it comes during a week when we have also celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee celebrations and during a year which started with Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Riyadh and in which there have been and will be many opportunities to spotlight the partnership between our two countries,” said Drummond.
The exhibition was only meant for Riyadh. “But since there was such a huge excitement with thousands of people visiting it in the Saudi capital, we decided to take it to Alkhobar and Jeddah so that as many people as possible can see it,” he said.
Prince Abdul Aziz and the invited guests were taken on a tour of the exhibition, and everyone seemed delighted.
“We tried to give the prince a sense of all the different perspectives represented by the artists; he asked us a lot of questions about the different artists and why they painted the way they have,” he said. “I thought he was very interested in the exhibition, and said he would bring his daughter to see it … I feel very encouraged.”
According to Drummond, everybody in Saudi Arabia knows Britain to some degree. “This exhibition will lead to greater understanding … We really hope that young and old, adults and children, will come here at this beautiful exhibition center,” he said.
The exhibition is open to all and includes many different kinds of landscape art such as painting, photography and sculpture. Among the 28 featured artists are Richard Long, Peter Lanyon, John Davies, Paul Nash, Bill Brandt, Conrad Shawcross, David Hepher, Frank Auerbach, Fay Godwin, Mathew Smith and Spencer Gore.
Al-Ahmadi, the Scitech general manager, was all praise for the exhibits. “These are unique pieces of art, they tell a fascinating history. It is through such exhibitions that we get to know other cultures. They promote better understanding and lead to better relationships,” he told Arab News on the sidelines.
Alongside the exhibition, the organizers have arranged a number of workshops, artist talks, collaborative works of art, and an online art competition for local artists to present their works to the wider world.
The works were jointly selected by the British Council and the National Museum in Riyadh.
“The Saudi-British partnership covers areas such as trade and education, as well as defense and security; but art and cultural exchanges are as important as these, in bringing people together,” said Drummond.
Without a doubt, the cultural relations between the two Kingdoms are today stronger than ever. “They have always been strong, the British Museum has just run a major exhibition on Haj, featuring many remarkable pieces from Saudi Arabia; it was visited by more than 100,000 visitors,” said Drummond. “Next month, the British Museum is holding another significant exhibition, entitled ‘The Horse: Ancient Arabia to the Modern World.’”
Drummond acknowledged the hard work of his colleagues in the British Council. “It is the UK’s international organization for education and cultural ties and plays a vital role in cultural cooperation between our two kingdoms,” he said.
Chadwick extended his thanks and appreciation to Prince Abdul Aziz, the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) and Scitech. He praised the stellar media support for the exhibition from the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), publishers of Arab News.