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Kafkaesque Khalid Alabbas sees and paints dystopian and surreal characters as a way to analyse society while aspiring to seize some of their sparky spirit.
The young Bahraini artist’s work is characterised by deep, dark, dead-looking eyes that depict the void within them. “Many think that the characters I paint or draw are clowns, they are not, they are hard to explain because each one has his own personality, feelings and back story,” the 21-year-old who lives in Sanad told GulfWeekly.
“I gave them dead eyes or enlarged eyes to represent a void inside them. They have nothing to lose, no regrets and no fear. I like them because they don’t care about what goes on around them, they live till they stop living.
“It’s like giving up everything to be free, that’s what I see in them. That’s what their dark eyes and blue dead lips represent.”
Khalid works mainly with acrylics on canvas but has also been developing a dab hand at digital art – both of which he has further explored during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Two of his paintings – Insomnia and Loneliness – have been featured at the 45th Bahrain Annual Fine Arts exhibition, and are introspective portraits depicting inner struggles.
Loneliness revolves around ‘how we have enough yet still feel down because we want more,’ according to Khalid, while Insomnia is a ‘representation of the struggle when we don’t get a good night’s sleep’.
“I am a visual learner so I look at things long enough to understand them. I look at how people work so that my hands replicate their techniques and motions, and sometimes I try to replicate it even better, of course that leads me to explore new ideas,” Khalid explained, when talking about his process.
“Overall, when it comes to art, my first influencers are my parents although neither are painters. My mum is an author – her storytelling and the way she creates deep characters and twisted stories inspired my odyssey to create art with a deeper meaning and story.
“Through her work, I became fascinated by twisted and sadistic characters and social issues which I incorporate into my art.
“My father is a photographer, who trained my eyes to look at things from different angles, and search for something that’s there, yet not seen by many.”
Having started at a very young age, Khalid quickly developed an outlet for his active imagination, and to this day, carries his sketchbook around to quickly put his thoughts and ideas to paper.
He currently draws inspiration from movies like Fight Club for his aesthetic and imbues ideas from books like George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, as well as Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
One of Khalid’s favourite paintings is Mr Addiction where he juxtaposes the long-term damage of harmful habits against short-term pleasure.
“The piece depicts the character which I named Mr Addiction – whose eyes are illuminated with coffee cups and whose hands hold a cigarette to represent his habits,” he explained.
“The main idea is to portray addiction from the viewpoint of the addicted. Most of us have the desire for dopamine. Thus, I chose to paint this to create a contrast that shows how some of our self-destructive behaviour can be ironically the source of our temporary happiness.”
As he continues his journey, Khalid yearns to create more meaningful and impactful art, develop his technical skill and expand his philosophy – all while adding layers to darkness as a way of illuminating it.
For more details, follow @khalid_artz on Instagram.
