Faig Ahmed
Faig Ahmed (Faiq Əhməd) (born 1982 in Sumqayit, Azerbaijan) is an Azerbaijani contemporary visual artist who is best known for his surrealist weavings, which integrate visual distortions into traditional oriental rugs. Ahmed graduated from the sculpture program at the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts in Baku in 2004. In 2007, Ahmed's work was included in Azerbaijan's first pavilion in the Venice Biennalle in 2013 he participated in the show “Love Me, Love Me Not” and the 11th Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial in 2018.
Faig Ahmed

Runawaymo · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Faig Ahmed
- Born
- 1982
- Birthplace
- Sumqayit, Azerbaijan
- Occupation
- Visual artist
- Nationality
- Soviet Union · Azerbaijan
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Faig Ahmed (Faiq Əhməd) (born 1982 in Sumqayit, Azerbaijan) is an Azerbaijani contemporary visual artist who is best known for his surrealist weavings, which integrate visual distortions into traditional oriental rugs. Ahmed graduated from the sculpture program at the Azerbaijan State Academy of Fine Arts in Baku in 2004. In 2007, Ahmed's work was included in Azerbaijan's first pavilion in the Venice Biennalle in 2013 he participated in the show “Love Me, Love Me Not” and the 11th Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial in 2018.
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wikidata · Q31295305 · wikipedia · Faig Ahmed
In this article
Biography
Biography
While Ahmed has created artworks in multiple media, including sculpture, video, and installation, he is best known for his surrealist sculptural textiles, which apply optical illusions in the form of often psychedelic visual manipulations (including warping, glitching, melting, pixelating, and unraveling) to traditional Islamic rugs. The textiles are manufactured by a group of skilled weavers who follow Ahmed's designs paying strict attention to traditional Azerbaijani weaving techniques.

Faig Ahmed at TEDxADA
TEDx ADA · Faig Ahmed: "Freedom and Structure"

Faig Ahmed: Doubts (in the temporary exhibition (2026) 'Wool. Silk. Resistance.' in Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt)
Dr. Thomas Liptak
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Faig Ahmed • Native Name — Faiq Əhməd • Born — 1982 • Birthplace — Sumqayit, Azerbaijan • Occupation — Visual artist • Website — https: faigahmed.com/
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
• Illustration — Faig Ahmed's "Osho" displayed at LACMA Ahmed has exhibited his works worldwide, including group and solo exhibitions in New York, Paris, London, Berlin, Moscow, Dubai, Sharjah, Mumbai, Rome, Venice, Washington D.C., Hong Kong, Mumbai, Moscow, Azerbaijan, Sweden, Norway, Honolulu, Melbourne, and Sydney. In the past few years, Ahmed's works have been exhibited in several museums, including the Museum of Fine Art Boston, Los Angeles County Museum, Bellevue Art Museum, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, MOCA Cleveland, Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO), Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, NYU Abu Dhabi, the Textile Museum of Sweden, the Projective Eye Gallery at UNC Charlotte, New Tretyakov Gallery, Istanbul Modern, and others. Additionally, in 2013, he was nominated for the Jameel Prize 3 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Identity
Identity
Faig Ahmed is recorded as a citizen of Soviet Union. Recorded with the occupation painter.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1982
Faig Ahmed was born in 1982.
Collections
Collections
Ahmed's rug sculptures are held in notable public collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, RISD Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Seattle Art Museum, Palm Springs Museum of Art, Chrysler Museum of Art, Currier Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design Museum (RISD), Wake Forest University Museum, George Washington University, Brooks Museum of Art, Currier Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, de Young Museum; Bargoin Museum, France; MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Poland; The National Gallery of Victoria, Australia; Arsenal art contemporain Montréal, Canada; The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway; Istanbul Modern, Turkey; Maraya Art Centre, UAE. His works have also been placed in private collections such as the West Collection, Philadelphia; the collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody, New York City; Galila Barzilaï-Hollander's collection, Brussels, Espacio SOLO, Puerta de Alcalá, Madrid; and the private collection of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa al-Nahyan, United Arab Emirates among others.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Faig Ahmed”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q31295305: Faig Ahmed
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Faig Ahmed Pulls the Threads of Islamic Tradition with his Rewoven Rugs. Artsy. 2016-03-18.
- 2.Faig Ahmed. DIALOGIST.
- 3.Binder, Universes in Universe - Gerhard Haupt & Pat. Faig Ahmed, Azerbaijan. Venice Biennial 2007. universes-in-universe.de.
- 4.Azerbaijani artists to feature at Venice Bienalle in unprecedented Love Me, Love Me Not - YARAT.
- 5.11th Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial - the Atlantic Triangle | Exhibition.
- 6.Cocozza, Paula. Magic carpets: the art of Faig Ahmed's melted and pixellated rugs. The Guardian. 2016-11-13. 0261-3077.
- 7.Williams, Gisela. A Rebellious Artist's Psychedelic Rugs. The New York Times. 2016-05-10. 0362-4331.
- 8.Lewis, Danny. This Artist Makes Traditional Carpets That Look Like They Were hit by a Software Bug. Smithsonian.
References
Citations
References
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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