In the absence of art galleries and museums in the Kingdom, some talents might be lost while trying to find their way around. This is fortunately not the case with Kamal Al-Mualem, a Saudi painter and sculptor from the Eastern province, who studied Fine Art in Florence, Italy.
Very passionate about art, Al-Mualem has always been keen on developing himself as an artist. He has participated in numerous art exhibitions around the world and coordinated several varied local activities such as youth theater and art judging committees, the Saudi Cultural Festival and a number of exhibitions in the region. Although he is not a full-time artist, his job in the Youth Welfare Headquarters in Dammam has opened doors for him to hone his artistic skills.
“To be a full-time artist is not easy and being an artist is a gift from Allah,” said Al-Mualem.
His paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in countries around the world — Italy, Kuwait, the UAE, China, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain and of course Saudi Arabia.
Al-Mualem’s works, mainly devoted to stallions, have won prizes both locally and internationally.
One of his achievements this year was participating in the Tenth Changchun International Sculpture Symposium in China for the second time. He was selected by the judging panel to be one of 15 international artists chosen from nearly a thousand who applied to participate in the symposium.
“I had the opportunity to prove myself once again and show the world our art and experiences,” he said. The title and the subject of the forum for this year was “Nature and Love” and Al-Mualem’s passion for horses was shown in his “Antar and Abla.”
He was inspired by the love story of “Antar and Abla” and portrayed Antar as a black stallion and Abla as a white mare with a famous bit of verse Antar recited to Abla.
The two horses are set in a huge piece of clay which represented the “Naslah Rock,” located between Hail ad Qassim which is associated with the lovers’ secret meetings. He carved on the base the well-known verse which Antar said to Abla which was translated into Chinese and English.
“Mares are my passion,” said Al-Mualem adding that he is known for his passion for horses. Al-Mualem’s infatuation with horses made him study their anatomy, “All my work deals with horses. Since I was a child I’ve been fascinated by horses and I grew up carrying this passion to a different level which is art.”
Al-Mualem described art in the Kingdom as a newborn compared to other countries around the world. However, he believes artists here have wider opportunities and fewer challenges. “Just as in any field, being an artist can have challenges but too minor to be mentioned,” said Al-Mualem.
Neither does the romantic notion of being an artist fit with money-making, especially in the Kingdom where there are so few art galleries.
Al-Mualem believes an artist should never look at profit and should focus on polishing his talent.
“Many artists don’t like this aspect of their careers. A piece of advice for artists is to develop oneself and present unique art in order to be recognized and then profit will be gained,” he said.
