Nearly every piece that illustrator and street artist Rex has produced, including innumerable canvases, murals, and digital artworks, depicts a scene from Saudi Arabian life.
In the most recent installment of HYPEBEAST Diaries, the artist is followed as he brings to life a mural made in partnership with MDLBEAST, taking viewers behind the scenes of his distinctive pop-art style and original storytelling.
Rex, often known as the “Banksy of Saudi Arabia,” has quickly established himself as an irresistible force in the international art world. But his creative path had a modest beginning. After graduating from college and moving to New York, the illustrator was thrust into a brand-new artistic environment. He made the decision to start “creating his own paintings for himself” at that point.
“I realized there was a missing voice that could possibly represent me and my people so that’s when I turned to paint,” says Rex. His home nation of Saudi Arabia suddenly became the focus of his works as he used his newly discovered passion of painting to express his sentiments for it.
However, the artist’s method evolved over time into something more profound. He continues, looking at some of his early works of abstract figures that resemble skulls: “I started to formulate ideas about the system, my background and the culture.” This led to Rex using his understanding to “portray this in a different way in order to change someone’s mind or at least spark a conversation.”
“The work I do in Saudi, for Saudis, is different to the work I do to portray Saudi to the world,” Rex recalls. As a beacon of inspiration for the Jeddah art community, he now feels an added responsibility to champion the local creative scene and see it evolve – just like the region’s Dhad store did for him back in 2015.
In order to create a mural for MDLBEAST, the artist reconnected with Dhad shop and used its graffiti supplies to paint a picture of the Middle Eastern “Jalsah” band, which consists of a group of musicians playing classical instruments. The artwork, which is shown in the episode, radiates vivid colors into the nearby desert as well as past the festival.
Rex muses on the event’s mingling of ancient customs and musical genres and adds, “I’m so blessed to have this amongst great new artists and creators.” His art symbolizes a new-age across the landscape of Saudi Arabia’s creative scene which now permeates around the globe, sharing modern ideas of the region.
