Looking back, looking forward
Talking to Sacha Jafri, developer of ‘magical realism’ art, who began his global show at the debut edition of Art Bahrain
Eton-educated Sacha Jafri, said to have developed a genre of art referred to as magical realism, consolidated his lifetime work at his Dubai home before beginning the first leg of his global show at the recent debut edition of Art Bahrain.
Sacha Jafri, who shares time between his homes in London, New York and Dubai, recently moved into a chic new residence on Dubai’s glamorous Palm island where he has converted two townhouses into one large space, shared by his infant son, his wife and his art.
The Retrospective collection – featuring the two most-renowned paintings from each of the nine collections that Jafri has created over the past 18 years, as well as others borrowed from galleries and private collectors – is the basis of the selection that is now on a global tour.
“Some will be seen for the first time, others are borrowed. Some are for sale and others, not,” Jafri explains, adding: “I generally take two years to complete a collection, and on the advice of my father at the beginning of my career I always kept what I considered to be the best two of every collection for myself – these are what will now go on show.”
“Over the years I’ve amassed numerous friends and collectors and I want them to feel free to drop in and enjoy my work and life on the island, whenever they are in Dubai,” Jafri continues.
For the best part of two decades Jafri has been travelling the world with his paintings, which have been bought by some high-profile collectors, including Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Bob Geldof and Leonardo Di Caprio, all of whom have been mesmerised by his unique style of painting.
“Even I can sit for hours on end just looking at some of my work; each time look I see and experience different emotions – that’s what I really enjoy. I don’t like art that is either too obvious – leaving little or nothing to the imagination – or something too extreme that has a one-off shock factor.”
“Rather I prefer to create and admire work that draws you in and pulls you away from your daily routine; images that are uplifting and stimulating and make you think – think about what you see and how these visions relate to you and your life,” he says, restlessly, adding, “Art should be magical – it should carry you away…”
The artist, who studied Fine Art at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, has successfully turned his passion for his vocation into a multi-million dollar-earning career. And while he has been extremely successful,
he has always shared his fortune with the misfortunate, donating handsome amounts to charity. It’s reported that he has raised over US$18 million for global charities.
Jafri was born in 1977 and studied at the Kent Institute of Art and Design and the Ruskin School of Drawing & fine art. The artist says he has always had a need to be surrounded with colour and art, and the walls of his Dubai house, which he decorated himself, include a rainbow of different colours. “Colour inspires and energises me; I need to be surrounded by it,” says the man, who exudes his own creative energy and positivity and, it would appear, can’t still for a moment.
Each room of the villa is enriched with a wide selection of his work, including one of the first that he ever painted…
Today, his art work can be found in major art collections the world over, including the private collections of George Clooney, Madonna, Kevin Spacy and Bill Gates – even the walls of the Monaco Palace!
Despite brushing shoulders with the rich and famous, the artist – who at the age of just 29 was one of the youngest ever to have a 10-year retrospective of his work at the Museum of Modern Art – has a deeply spiritual aspect to his character, one that reveals his compassion for others.
Speaking from his sprawling 600 metre gallery on the edge of the Arabian Gulf, Jafri – of Iranian/Indian heritage – reveals his philosophical approach to life and work.
“The trick in life and in art is to believe in universal consciousness. I believe that everything is linked and we are all one… that your brother is not your brother, he is not another person, but rather is a part of yourself and we are all part of one, something that is greater than us…”
“To be a good artist, first you have to understand humanity and humility. That’s fundamental, for without it you can’t create something that will have any poignancy or strength, or substance to endure the test of time – and therefore won’t project beyond the world that we live in most of the time.”
“My role as an artist is to try and transcend the world that we normally live in and to create something that is honest – from a place of humanity and
humility. If you can do this it gives your work more meaning, more spirituality and more transcendentalism, and it becomes greater than you,” he explains.
Jafri adds: “As soon as you start to believe that you are the person that has created this amazing work that’s when things start to go wrong. All that you are doing as an artist is tapping into something greater than you, something that can inspire and uplift others. As soon as you believe that it is you who is doing this you will start to fail,” he explains.
“When I paint, I have to be alone; I fall into a trance and afterwards I remember the feeling, the energy and the emotion but I don’t actually remember painting. I always start with an emotion, then evolve and create. I disconnect the brain when I’m doing it – it’s pure emotion that comes out. There’s no thought process. Some take two weeks and others up to one-anda-half years,” he reveals.
Jafri refutes the popularity of ‘shock art’ developed by Damien Hurst in the 1980s, arguing that it’s transient – lasting only until something else more shocking attracts attention, at which point the first thing that shocked is forgotten. “On the other hand, I try to create something deeper and more spiritual,” he says, adding: “Similarly, if you enter someone’s soul, if you lift somebody, it stays with them forever – that is what art is all about.”
Jafri recently stated the first leg of his planned four-year 20-country world tour, but he is no stranger to years on the road. Intensive projects that bring him into contact with others seem to be part of his inspiration and drive, for he spent more than three years travelling, living and working with underprivileged children throughout Asia, before showing his Universe of the Child collection in 2011, and his earlier Jafri meets Warhol tour took him to some 22 countries, including Dubai, in 2002.
His current world tour, which will be mainly museum-based, will continue through the Gulf, before going to Europe, the Americas and finally to Asia.
“For me, the show will be a success if it slows people down and makes them use their hearts; if it develops people’s concentration and allows them to reconnect with something more meaningful within themselves,” says the artist, whose paintings command prices of between US$250,000 and 5 million.