Versatility has a new name — Saad bin Mohammed

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Saad bin Mohammed provides inspiration to those in doubt that everything and anything is possible. Writer, painter, producer and director are his current professions, with writing being his passion, his lifeline as he would call it.
Saad bin Mohammed’s talents span many genres; he’s been an avid writer and painter for many years but only recently joined the public art scene with his paintings. He’s also a screenplay writer, a director, producer and philosopher. He first showcased his work in 2009 and his first solo exhibition was in 2014. He’s since participated in R Gallery’s “New Art from the Middle East Book of Chronicles, Chapter 1,” a series that exhibited the works of six top Arab artists in London this past August as part of London Arabia Art and Fashion Week. The exhibit is currently in Jeddah, until it moves on to the next stop on its world tour.
“I’m a writer first and whatever I can’t write on paper I turn to my canvas; it’s because I’m a writer I’m thus able to reflect my ideas. Beauty comes secondary to me because executing a painting is important and I do have a certain percentile I’m committed to. The process of writing is easy for me but if I can’t write, I paint and that takes about four months at the least for the image to be clear in my head and about two weeks to execute on canvas. The first thing I do after I’m done with my painting, I head out to the streets, meet a stranger and invite them over for coffee or tea. After doing so, I show them my painting and listen to what they see; if and when they’ve described at least 40 percent of what I intended the message to be, I’ve succeeded and I’m thus satisfied. If it’s 39 percent, I either throw it out or edit it; it’s a method that’s worked quite well for me for a while now,” said Saad.
To Saad, painting is a method of ventilation, a sort of therapy that he goes through to release the thoughts and messages he can’t describe on paper. It’s about effectively transferring a complex thought into an image. “I paint for the people, not to flex my muscles on my colleagues and turn it into a competition.” I paint for the people, five words that hold strong meaning. It takes confidence to reach a certain level of peace to continue moving forward and not stop in the middle of your work, because your work is a reflection of your
conscience. Does that mean we need to find a middle ground between the constant inner struggles that our mind goes through? To find peace as Saad described?
“I didn’t start out as a writer, I was studying medicine in London and I quit in my last year. I always wanted to help people but at what cost? My freedom. I would have to sacrifice my life, my family’s, my own me time to help others but I won’t be helping myself, so I quit and I’m thankful to have done so because I’ve gained a plethora of knowledge and I have no regrets. I’ve since graduated from London Regent’s College majoring in accounting and to me it’s just a degree.
I am what I am,” exclaimed Saad.
Saad bin Mohammed never leaves his home without a phone and writes every thought that comes to mind; he explains that these thoughts can be turned into a paragraph, a chapter and maybe even into a book. Perhaps his method is a great way to pull out that potential and share it with the world. “I find my balance by creativity, I’m the creator of my work, you can find pencils and paper and you need to find
a way to mash them together. It’s a drive ... You should see my notes, I have to write every thought down.”
“I can’t ever stop writing. I had writer’s block for over a year and it killed me. That’s how much writing means to me.
I had plentiful ideas but I just couldn’t do it, so I went to the next best thing — painting. Humanity intrigues me and to dwell into its philosophies has no end. Then there’s human psychology, it moves me and there’s not one specific topic that I can’t find feelings to express on print or canvas, I’m very passionate and all the paths that I choose to pursue revolve around the path of self discovery, yet it’s not my own expedition of self discovery, it’s more about the personal aspects of humanity itself and their journey as a whole,” said Saad.
Saad’s fifth book is due to be released this month and his next novel is about history and the future, his sixth book that is currently in the works has to do with correcting the lies that were passed on through history. Heroes were villainized and villains were lionized, stories were created and blown out of proportion without any specific reason, we’re spoon-fed information that isn’t accurate and Saad is on a mission, a mission to correct the wrongs through a long fact-finding mission using many references. It’s not going to be one of the mainstream novels that you might see; the messages are hidden between the lines and it’s up to the reader to make his or her own conclusion. “We’ve been tricked and duped into believing a lot of false information, I do this to ventilate and correct a wrong. I can’t force anyone to read my books, I write for people to enjoy but in the end they are there for humanity to find.”
As an avid writer, it would seem that Saad is evolving and testing the waters all under the same beautiful art of language. He’s currently writing the script of a pan-Arab production based on one of his novels as he’ll also be an executive producer. He’s produced a few short films, “O My Son”, “Behind the I” which he wrote and co-produced and “Dark future” as well as produced a documentary under the name “A Footnote in Ballet History?” He is currently involved in producing a musical set to be released in 2018. His work is a reflection on his discoveries of the human from within, and he portrays that discovery through his own understandings.
“I love movies, theater, musicals, they’re a continuity of passion. It might seem strange that I’d move on to such roles but they’re all under one large umbrella, it’s the art of language, it’s all an expression of a series of ideas. I’ve seen that same passion in some local and Arab productions, the execution is amazing, there’s so much talent out there and they’re slowly being given a platform, though not locally because we’re not ready yet and we must not dwell too much on the red line on the ground. We mustn’t cross it to make a point, but mentally you can do so and present it into a masterpiece!” said Saad.
With his new roles as producer, screenplay writer and director, he’s also seen examples of many great Saudi and Arab talents and is very keen on meeting some if and when given the chance. He explains that it’s all about the distribution, many people are involved in helping accomplish any project at hand but that can’t be the only drive, there needs to be a strong supportive entity to push these young men and women forward, to continue creating great works and show their passion.
“I deliver ideas and believe in what I’m doing,” Saad said.
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