About 10,000 Simple Steps to Perfectly Draw an Arabian Horse (2014)

Horses have appeared in works of art throughout history. In the Gulf, Arabian horses are the subjects of thousands of paintings, photographs, and sculptures. They are the most popular subjects for artists alongside landscapes and portraits of dignitaries. In this installation, Hujairi comments on the demands of an artist in the Gulf today as well as methodologies of art education. As you sit at a desk, written instructions and tools for drawing are offered to you, you are instructed to press play on an mp3 player and the headphones begin to play a composition by Hujairi. We hear the voice of a young boy (in a Khaleeji accent) instructing us with a step-by-step guide to drawing a horse. This voice is juxtaposed around the sound of Korean hammered string instrument, the yangeum, which the artist was studying at the time of producing the work while pursuing his doctoral degree in music composition in Seoul, South Korea. This placement of the voice above the instrument reflects the artist’s questioning of art pedagogy.

This work was first presented (as an instructional sound piece/installation) at the EOA Gallery (London, UK) between November 2014 and January 2015 as part of a group exhibition called NEVER NEVER LAND. The sound-only aspect of the work also was published online by Leonard Music Journal as part of a curated selection by Lucas Ligeti in a series called Sonic Commentary: Meaning Through Hearing.