History finds a way into this artist’s work
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain one once we grow up. Rashid Khalifa invokes Picasso to explain why he grew up to be an artist and thankfully, he didn’t face that problem. He has remained an artist, and a distinguished one at that.
Bahrain’s most famous living artist first picked up the brush at 16. At 66, he is as bracingly prolific as ever and has just made his London debut at the prestigious Saatchi Gallery. He sounds excited as he speaks about his much-talked-about solo and what to expect from it. The show, titled
Penumbra: Textured Shadow, Coloured Light, invites viewers to experience the beauty of textured shadows and light cast through polychromatic metal structures. Penumbra explores an understanding of mutual influence, past and present, and at the same time, creates a dialogue that speaks to a global environment and respects individual identity in an international society.
The works on display at Saatchi are what Rashid calls “non-objective art.” Inspired by the light and shadow from the mashrabiya, an architectural element common to Arabic homes, Rashid explains that “geometric forms found in mashrabiya are universal” as they impart a personal, cultural, historical and social manifestation. The artist hopes that Penumbra will speak to all viewers engaged with the contemporary world and will have their own “spiritual journey” with it, just as he did during its making.
Influenced by geometry, Rashid claims that he has been engaging a lot with it of late, carrying out experimentations in various approaches that are thought-provoking and conversation-starters. In its freedom of form, fluid processes and geometric breakthroughs, Khalifa’s distinctive style possesses a sensory quality. Like any performative artist, he plays with scale and perspective, and interweaves history with self-exploration to constantly “redefine art that can fit into the global contemporary art conversation.”
What does art mean to him, I ask. It puts him in an introspective mode. “Art, for me, is a language of colours and forms. It explores identity and its diversity creates acceptance. Colour and geometric forms is a universal language and are multicultural signifiers that connect multiple histories (geometry, art, architecture) and geographies (Europe, the Middle East and Asia).” In recent years, Rashid has experimented with metal surfaces with cuts and folds that are minimalist aluminium hybrids. Penumbra takes this approach a step further, exploring changes in spatial experience depending on the viewer’s position.
Born in Manama in 1952, Rashid Khalifa’s early works were oil landscapes and figurative paintings. Then leaning towards abstraction, he merged both the landscape and figurative with minimal details, to colour-field and now convex hybrids three-dimensional art. Penumbra, on till November 19, has met with great success prompting him to “go further and explore more possibilities with the installations such as the maze and all the other works on exhibit.”
Rashid keeps himself alive to the sights and sounds of the world by constantly sketching. As Picasso said, “Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” He laughs. “You have to keep yourself inspired all the time. If you are not running out of diaries you might want to think of another career.”
Rashid Khalifa’s distinctive style possesses a sensory quality. Like any performative artist, he plays with scale and perspective, and interweaves history with self-exploration to constantly “redefine art that can fit into the global contemporary art conversation.”