Fuel

An opaque and viscous black deluge, suggestive of oil, seems to pour down over a colorful patterned carpet in Faig Ahmed’s Fuel. This visually arresting work features a clever illusion, as the black does not cover the surface of the carpet, but rather is integral to it; the patterned and black areas are hand-knotted wool, continuous with one another. With Fuel, Ahmed, an artist who lives and works in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, explores the referential potential of two celebrated riches of his home country, oil and carpets. The first oil well in the world was in Azerbaijan, and in 2010, UNESCO designated Azerbaijani carpets as Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage. For Ahmed, fuel or oil, is a source of power and energy, which like the carpets are intangible.

Carpet making has a well-established history in Azerbaijan, and the Caucasus region more broadly. In the nineteenth century, carpets, which women often made in the home, passing down design and weaving knowledge from generation to generation, became a key export of the region. Middle- and upper-class consumers in Europe and America sought out these rugs as luxurious and fashionable furnishings for their homes. Ahmed’s work acknowledges this history, and he relies on the knowledge and skills of the carpet makers, who produce his designs.