Ghaida Al Ghanim

With an ardent interest in the magnificence of the eye and the mystery it beholds, Ghaida Al Ghanim shares her curiosity through her bold paintbrush strokes and unique use of mixed media.

“The eyes do all the work. The first thing you see when you meet a person is their eyes and this doesn’t change when looking at a piece of art. The viewer’s eye is naturally drawn straight to the soul of the painting,” proclaims Ghaida. Having been captivated by Greek classical antiquity, most prominently the iconic evil eye, from a very young age, this fascination has evolved into a motif in her work.

Born and raised in Saudi, Ghaida has been painting since she remembers. When observing her works closely, there is a lot of colour, pattern, energy and emotion involved in the majority of her mixed media pieces. Arabic art, patterns and the Arabic alphabet can be found lying between her strokes. “I always take some ideas from Arabic patterns, but my works are free-flowing. I tend to not preplan or pre-composition my work, I like to be free and let my inner artistic power take control. And the same applies to when I feel inspired to paint. I remember a time I was travelling and I woke up in the middle of the night to paint. It’s very rarely planned.”

Although Ghaida is at the very start of her artistic career, her style is already forming through her collections of work, with recurring lines and colours. Taking inspirations from Greek art, her Arabic heritage and a fascination with Western master artists whose work has contributed to art movements, such as Picasso and Cubism, Salvador Dalí and Surrealism, we can expect to see a lot from the emerging Saudi artist and her own unique eye.