We’ve absolutely no doubt that you’ll have seen tributes to Abu Dhabi’s heritage on canvas before. After all, barely an art exhibition goes by without 10 or 20 lovingly crafted, oil-painted canvases depicting those iconic figures destined to be eternally synonymous with the city; falcons, stallions, coffee pots and forts are the big ones, usually with a camel or a patch of Arabic geometrics thrown in there for good measure. As aesthetically pleasing and poignant as they may be, though, there’s only so much of one thing the gallery-going public can take without feeling a horrible sense of déjà vu wash over them. It’s just as well, then, that in a new show opening on Yas Island this week, Abdul Rauf Khalfan is breathing some new life into these hackneyed symbols of old Arabia.
The third in the Crossroads series of exhibitions held at The Yas Hotel and organised by Swiss Art Gate UAE, new show The Beauty of Heritage presents recent highlights from Emirati-born Khalfan’s colourful career, featuring works in acrylic, oil and charcoal.
Though, at just 28 years old, the artist’s canon is far from extensive, Khalfan has been making waves with his art from a young age. In 1992, aged just nine, he entered an art competition themed around the unification of Germany. His entry – a depiction of a cracked wall – impressed the judges and became a prize-winner. Shortly after, he also found success in a competition to redesign the logo for the World Tennis Club, and once more in a contest to design greeting cards for the Dubai Shopping Festival.
Given the youthful origins of his craft, then, it’s fitting that his bold, block-coloured canvases sport a certain child-like quality. We’re not talking mindless scrawls, here, but look at those thick black outlines – are they not reminiscent of an infant’s colouring book? Keith Haring – the New York pop-artist best known for his similarly-styled ‘Radiant Baby’ symbol – is the first influence that jumps to our mind, while echos of Julian Opie’s comic book-y, infantilist portraits and pictogram-style figures are also hard to ignore. With icons of Abu Dhabi heritage as subject matter, the results are particularly striking. We’re used to seeing palm trees and forts rendered in painstaking detail and so, transposed into Khalfan’s world, their primary-coloured simplicity is a massive breath of fresh air.
Femininity, too has a strong presence in Khalfan’s work, a theme brought to the artist’s creative fore by a woman extremely significant to him. Not his mother or wife, in this case, but rather a mystical figure that first appeared to him in a dream some six years ago, collecting seashells on the beach. Among other pieces, this woman appears in 2010 work ‘Care my Talent’ (pictured, top right), in which Khalfan assigns her dream-like properties through surreal colours and forms. Depicted in an orange, polka-dot abaya, her face is part Egyptian glyph, part Picasso portrait, with lips turned jarringly upon the viewer as she floats through her ethereal never land.
Like what you see? The majority of the works displayed in the exhibition are up for sale, with prices starting at Dhs15,000. Should you choose to invest, however, be aware that you’ll be taking a piece of the artist with you. Upon selling his first painting some years ago, Khalfan was struck with an intense personal conflict, which led to him destroying all his artwork and starting again from scratch. Still, given his dedicated work ethic, chances are you’ll be seeing a lot more from this talented young artist in the future. ‘You are born poor but you have to die rich in your heart, confident in your work and your achievements,’ he says. ‘Use your inner power and mind, and if you lose carry on with another venture. God says: if you work hard, you will get it, but you need to work hard for it!’
The Beauty of Heritage runs from September 10 – November 5 in the Marina Wing of The Yas Hotel. For more information, call Swiss Art Gate UAE on 050 225 1783.
