The Indefatigable Explorer of Patterns, Shapes and Colours
For over one year I have been working with Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) on the first retrospective of the Emirati painter Abdulqader Al Rais. The exhibition is opening soon in Paris at the Institut du Monde Arabe.
Abdulqader Al Rais is quiet, humble and puts his energy in creating large creations. His eyes are always showing thoughtfulness and kindness. When spending some time in Paris with him last April, I enjoyed his passion for art. We went to the Musée de l’Orangerie to admire the Monet’s Water Lilies, the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Musée d’Orsay. It was also a great moment to see the artist spending endless hours at Sennelier, choosing colours, selecting rare papers and discussing with the owner himself.
Born in Dubai in 1951, Abdulqader Al Rais is one of the pioneers of contemporary Arab art. With over 50 works, the retrospective showcases rare works made in the 1960s while he was student in Kuwait.
Witnessing the profound upheavals that the Emirates have experienced since the 1960s, al Rais synthesises the transformations his generation have witnessed by combining heritage and modernity. What I found interesting when working on this exhibition is to learn more about the painter’s evolution of his style, from figuration to abstraction.
After an interruption of more than 10 years of his pictorial practice (1974-1986), the style of Abdulqader al Rais evolved. While pursuing a realistic approach to details of vernacular architecture (doors, windows, traditional houses of the Emirates), his work turns to abstraction, combining calligraphy and geometric forms.
The exhibition opens on September 25th and runs until October 21st, 2018 at the Institut du Monde Arabe. It is part of the French-Emirati Cultural Programme. Two talks are scheduled on September 25th and 26th, 2018 at 7pm at the auditorium of the Institut.
