JEDDAH — The second art exhibition of South African artist Pieter Abraham Pienaar entitled “Journey with Jeddah II” was held at the “Tasami Creative Lab” here recently. The exhibition was organized by Arabian Jewel, a non-profit cultural initiative that provides services ranging from cultural tours, photography, art and photo essay exhibition, film-making, digital art/graphics and poetry to Saudis and the expatriate community. Forty-six paintings, including Jeddah's heritage sites of old city, were displayed. Pieter Pienaar, born and raised in the Northern Cape Province in South Africa, said: “I created some art on our farm near Botswana in South Africa and the acrylic works on canvas I made in Jeddah during the October holidays. Like all people I am fascinated by foreign and beautiful things, which ‘attack' our senses.” He added: “ I believe that any form of art enables the doer to become more balanced internally and feel fulfilled. I am of the opinion that each person was blessed by God to contribute something of beauty to the world, whatever it might be. Not all of us are fine artists, musicians, architects, sculptors or designers, but we can all live creative lives in so many different ways — which are not traditionally classified under “the arts” — and in so doing contribute harmony and color to a waiting world”. The subjects or topics, in his displayed work, explain their significance to him as an artist. Explaining the exhibition title and the philosophy behind his work, he said: “The Old City of Jeddah is a wonderful place to find inspiration, because there we can find: historical architecture, warmth, decay, progress, color, shops and beautiful people! My display is my attempt as an artist to channel some of these exciting impressions of this unique milieu. The temperature in Jeddah makes it a bit impossible (for me at least) to work meaningfully outdoors on location and I work from my own photographs in the comfort of my home.” He added, “At heart I am an abstract expressionist, but like many other artists, I can work in all media as the muse leads. I decided to portray only the Old City in this collection, because most of my expat friends enjoy these scenes. I reproduce these scenes on mugs, magnets, paper and fabric and my friends purchase them as souvenirs for friends in their home countries. Furthermore, other reasons why I decided to focus on the Old City is because of its new status as a world heritage site and when I had my first exhibition, Journey with Jeddah I, the Old City scenes were the most popular.” When asked about Saudi Art in the local and international contexts he said, “I try to create my own art. When I look at the quality of which I see at exhibitions, I am amazed at the excellent work produced by Saudi artists and I realize more and more that Art is a mode of expression, which transcends all boundaries. Jeddah, in my opinion, must be the city with the most stationery shops selling art materials. It is easy to produce art here if you have some time and money because art materials are freely available.” Pieter hopes to continue making art, start to write about art teaching and perhaps publish motivational material relating to the arts. “While I am residing in sunny Saudi Arabia, I want to learn more about the amazing artists here and their vision for the Saudi art community. I would also like to write a humorous arty book about my experiences in Jeddah as an expat, and my growth as a person immersed in the Middle Eastern culture with is heat and splendor. In fact I have already started writing this book, but the urge to create art always overpowers my willingness to sit and write. One of my burning ambitions is to start using narrative arts activities as a motivational tool with adults in groups on a more regular basis, because I enjoy engaging with people on a heart level whenever possible,” he said.
