Books
November
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November 2010
Artist Book
Inspires Giving
Inspires Giving
LEADING BAHRAINI artist Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa’s groundbreaking achievements as a painter beginning in the 60s are featured in the book "Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa - 40 years of painting from himself, by himself, for himself". The retrospective book is the first major survey of his work and is a giant step towards understanding the ongoing vitality of his practice.
Shaikh Rashid began creating art in the '60s to the present searching for ways to re-imagine painting. His retrospective oeuvre is a visual journey that threads through modern painting's history - from landscapes, figurative, two-dimension and abstract colour field painted on "convex" shaped canvas.
The book also covers an impressive range of productivity in Shaikh's practice in many forms - sketches, photography, interior design and graphic design. The impressive 146 page hardback contains over 200 beautiful colour photographs, a creative meditation and an historical testimony of one man’s dedication to arts - an exciting addition to any fine arts aficionados’ library.
The book not only serves to create awareness of Shaikh Rashid’s art but also serves as an excellent support to charity as all sales will go to an aid organisation.
Available at Jashanmal’s Bookstore, Seef Mall branch.
www.rashidalkhalifa.com
Shaikh Rashid began creating art in the '60s to the present searching for ways to re-imagine painting. His retrospective oeuvre is a visual journey that threads through modern painting's history - from landscapes, figurative, two-dimension and abstract colour field painted on "convex" shaped canvas.
The book also covers an impressive range of productivity in Shaikh's practice in many forms - sketches, photography, interior design and graphic design. The impressive 146 page hardback contains over 200 beautiful colour photographs, a creative meditation and an historical testimony of one man’s dedication to arts - an exciting addition to any fine arts aficionados’ library.
The book not only serves to create awareness of Shaikh Rashid’s art but also serves as an excellent support to charity as all sales will go to an aid organisation.
Available at Jashanmal’s Bookstore, Seef Mall branch.
www.rashidalkhalifa.com
Intimately engaged with the art and literary world of Iraq, Rafa Al Nasiri: His Life and Art, reflect the intellectual culture that nourished him and authors Sabah Al Nassiri and May Muzaffar have sensitively and perceptively portrayed the artist, his development and his times.
The 300 page book is compact and the overall design is pleasing. The percentage of text to the judiciously selected images in this volume is low and that makes it interesting for someone who feels compelled to read books from front to back.
Like Al Nasiri’s paintings, this book is worth savouring and is recommended for all art collections and is available at Nabad Art Gallery, Amman, Jordan.
www.rafanasiri.com
The 300 page book is compact and the overall design is pleasing. The percentage of text to the judiciously selected images in this volume is low and that makes it interesting for someone who feels compelled to read books from front to back.
Like Al Nasiri’s paintings, this book is worth savouring and is recommended for all art collections and is available at Nabad Art Gallery, Amman, Jordan.
www.rafanasiri.com
About Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
Rashid Al Khalifa’s artistic career is a testament to his creative maturity. Having
practiced as an artist in Bahrain for over forty years, he has progressed through varying styles; beginning in the 1960s with a focus on landscape painting, moving on to more figurative work in the 1980s, and finally towards abstraction in the early 1990s. The natural development of his work has enabled the entirety of his oeuvre to materialise as an enlightening and fascinating collection.
This exhibition presents us with a glimpse into an extremely diverse body of work, yet one that maintains a sense of unity despite its diversity. Regardless of his progressively abstract style, the atmospheric and mysterious essence that this collection conveys remains constant throughout.
Rashid’s artistic career has been as experimental as it has been progressive. And it is
because of his experimental nature as well as his deep interest in design, that in the late
1990s, he stumbled upon something subtle, yet so effective.
The formula was simple: the canvas was stretched by approximately 25 degrees. The result was powerful: a convex canvas that engages the viewer and simultaneously allows light, colour and texture to rest harmoniously on its surface.
Rashid has painted directly onto these canvases since the year 2000. And so, within this exhibition, we will also witness the development of the convex canvas since its conception. We will observe how it has become a necessary tool used to enhance Rashid’s increasingly abstract imagery; a device that enables his paintings to be seen in a different ‘light’.
In the words of Rashid Al Khalifa, the convex canvas offers the viewer, “a new
perspective”.
Rashid Al Khalifa’s artistic career is a testament to his creative maturity. Having
practiced as an artist in Bahrain for over forty years, he has progressed through varying styles; beginning in the 1960s with a focus on landscape painting, moving on to more figurative work in the 1980s, and finally towards abstraction in the early 1990s. The natural development of his work has enabled the entirety of his oeuvre to materialise as an enlightening and fascinating collection.
This exhibition presents us with a glimpse into an extremely diverse body of work, yet one that maintains a sense of unity despite its diversity. Regardless of his progressively abstract style, the atmospheric and mysterious essence that this collection conveys remains constant throughout.
Rashid’s artistic career has been as experimental as it has been progressive. And it is
because of his experimental nature as well as his deep interest in design, that in the late
1990s, he stumbled upon something subtle, yet so effective.
The formula was simple: the canvas was stretched by approximately 25 degrees. The result was powerful: a convex canvas that engages the viewer and simultaneously allows light, colour and texture to rest harmoniously on its surface.
Rashid has painted directly onto these canvases since the year 2000. And so, within this exhibition, we will also witness the development of the convex canvas since its conception. We will observe how it has become a necessary tool used to enhance Rashid’s increasingly abstract imagery; a device that enables his paintings to be seen in a different ‘light’.
In the words of Rashid Al Khalifa, the convex canvas offers the viewer, “a new
perspective”.
About Rafa Al Nasiri
Iraqi painter and printmaker Rafa Nasiri is widely-known in the Arab world and beyond for his culturally rich artworks and elegant style. During the last decade, he has been inspired by poetry as varied as that of Al-Mutanabbi, Mahmoud Darwish and Etel Adnan. This poetic journey, coupled with a preoccupation with
the element of time, has produced works that celebrate beauty, love and the homeland. Born in 1940, he studied painting and printmaking in Baghdad, Beijing and Lisbon. Since 1963, he has held 33 solo exhibitions in the Middle East, Europe and the Far East and has participated in numerous joint exhibitions around the world. Nasiri has won several international prizes for both his paintings and his prints. He currently lives and works in Amman.
Iraqi painter and printmaker Rafa Nasiri is widely-known in the Arab world and beyond for his culturally rich artworks and elegant style. During the last decade, he has been inspired by poetry as varied as that of Al-Mutanabbi, Mahmoud Darwish and Etel Adnan. This poetic journey, coupled with a preoccupation with
the element of time, has produced works that celebrate beauty, love and the homeland. Born in 1940, he studied painting and printmaking in Baghdad, Beijing and Lisbon. Since 1963, he has held 33 solo exhibitions in the Middle East, Europe and the Far East and has participated in numerous joint exhibitions around the world. Nasiri has won several international prizes for both his paintings and his prints. He currently lives and works in Amman.
Rafa Al Nasiri:
His Life & Art
by Sabah Al Nassiri and May Muzaffar
PUBLISHED IN conjunction with Al Nasiri’s latest exhibition Beyond Time at Nabad Art Gallery, Amman, Jordan, Rafa Al Nasiri: His Life & Art, is a beautifully produced bilingual (Arabic and English) book and is divided into six parts. Beginning with the early, sequentially dated artworks and ending with the 2009 artist’s book on Mahmoud Darwish, this volume presents a chronological overview of Al Nasiri’s’s oeuvre.
As biography and identity are important factors in Al Nasiri’s work, the authors explored several aspects of his story including the compilation of essays by Etel Adnan, Salwa Muqdadi, Claude Dorval, Sadoun Fadhil and May Muzaffar brings to light his contributions to art over the course of five decades. Al Nasiri is known as one of the pioneering artists’ who played a significant role in the rise of Graphic Arts in the 1960s. He is an important figure in contemporary Iraqi art and theory and a fitting subject for such an ambitious retrospective.
The lead-off essay by Etel Adnan, The Poetic Vision (2004), merges Al Nasiri’s vision and inner spirit arriving at a compelling model for his art making today. The artist’s acceptance of Eastern canonical notions implied undeniable aestheticism resulting in a true Zen self-reflection in life and art.
The book situates Al Nasiri's work within Peking, China as a student in the late 50s to early 60s, the vibrant Baghdad art scene of the 70s as well as in between Amman, Jordan (his current residence) from early 1990s and Manama, Bahrain during late 90s up to 2003.
At the heart of the book is the essay by May Muzaffar, Ten Years, Three Cities (1989-1999), provides a first-hand description of Al Nasiri’s working methods. From his early graphic works that brought him to prominence to his most recent paintings and artist’s book, this volume is the first chance to see on a large scale how Al Nasiri’s talent evolved. The contents demonstrate definite and interesting artistic development from his earlier work.
His Life & Art
by Sabah Al Nassiri and May Muzaffar
PUBLISHED IN conjunction with Al Nasiri’s latest exhibition Beyond Time at Nabad Art Gallery, Amman, Jordan, Rafa Al Nasiri: His Life & Art, is a beautifully produced bilingual (Arabic and English) book and is divided into six parts. Beginning with the early, sequentially dated artworks and ending with the 2009 artist’s book on Mahmoud Darwish, this volume presents a chronological overview of Al Nasiri’s’s oeuvre.
As biography and identity are important factors in Al Nasiri’s work, the authors explored several aspects of his story including the compilation of essays by Etel Adnan, Salwa Muqdadi, Claude Dorval, Sadoun Fadhil and May Muzaffar brings to light his contributions to art over the course of five decades. Al Nasiri is known as one of the pioneering artists’ who played a significant role in the rise of Graphic Arts in the 1960s. He is an important figure in contemporary Iraqi art and theory and a fitting subject for such an ambitious retrospective.
The lead-off essay by Etel Adnan, The Poetic Vision (2004), merges Al Nasiri’s vision and inner spirit arriving at a compelling model for his art making today. The artist’s acceptance of Eastern canonical notions implied undeniable aestheticism resulting in a true Zen self-reflection in life and art.
The book situates Al Nasiri's work within Peking, China as a student in the late 50s to early 60s, the vibrant Baghdad art scene of the 70s as well as in between Amman, Jordan (his current residence) from early 1990s and Manama, Bahrain during late 90s up to 2003.
At the heart of the book is the essay by May Muzaffar, Ten Years, Three Cities (1989-1999), provides a first-hand description of Al Nasiri’s working methods. From his early graphic works that brought him to prominence to his most recent paintings and artist’s book, this volume is the first chance to see on a large scale how Al Nasiri’s talent evolved. The contents demonstrate definite and interesting artistic development from his earlier work.
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