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Multifaceted maker and artist Rashed Al Araifi launched his first solo exhibition last night at the Art Centre, comprised of a body of work inspired by observations during the last two years.
Rashed won second place at the Bahrain Annual Fine Art Exhibition (BAFA) in 2020 and in recognition, his exhibition Visual Memoirs is now on display, examining urban behaviour, social practices and cultural customs.
“The exhibition and its 63 pieces are a visual journey through my memories, starting with easily discernible figuration, and then getting more obscure until we get to pure abstract thought,” Rashed told GulfWeekly.
“When you go to the show, you will start off seeing things that are easily identifiable, such as the sea and palm trees, and as you move through, the art pieces slowly get more and more abstract, and you might have to spend some time really looking at a picture, before you can identify it.
“But every detail, every aspect of each piece is intentional.”
Rashed has earned a reputation for his attention to detail as an artist. His piece at the BAFA 2020, called Cultured Culture, highlighted the struggle between traditional pearl diving and modern-day cultured pearls as a match between two football teams on a foosball table.
Built with solid teakwood similar to that used in dhows and diving ships, it has paddle-shaped handles and curved figures intended to represent pearl divers, while the lab-team is driven by culturing scientific equipment encased in the handles and box-cutter figures, to represent the manufactured nature of the process.
The wood ‘ball’ between the teams has a cutaway showing a single natural pearl.
This piece now rests in a royal home in the kingdom.
Rashed’s two new objects continue this attention to detail. Greeting visitors, as they embark on a journey through the exhibition, is a solid teak door art piece with 24-karat gold-plated hardware called Distorted Memory.
“The piece acts as a visual narration which echoes a disintegrating memory of native and vernacular architecture, positioned between the spectrum of time and space,” Rashed explained.
“Hand-finished in solid teak wood, the traditional door stands as a symbol which intends to showcase and examine local craftsmanship, warped between its almost uncertain and deteriorating legacy.”
Right in the middle of the exhibition, between figuration and abstraction is a wooden chest, akin to that found in many Arab homes.
The beauty in the object, called Blinding Heights, lies both in the process and the final piece.
According to Rashed, the handcrafted piece metaphorically critiques the legacy and efforts of local artisans and their future.
“The playfully placed miniature builders, each of which has been individually designed and 3D-printed, can be seen working on site, juxtaposed against the chest’s 8,000 coated brass studs,” he added.
“They symbolise a comparison between a construction workforce and a specialised artisan, whose legacy and craft has been passed down through generations into an uncertain future.”
In addition, amongst the myriad pieces on display are sketches from Rashed’s double-handed drawing series – ambidexterity being a skill that the 29-year-old artist discovered and developed during the pandemic.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic itself was not an inspiration for his body of work in the last two years, he did find more time to explore his mind and skillset creatively.
Many of the pieces are symphonies achieved by his left-side logical brain and right-side creative brain working together – a melody of his profession and passion.
An architect by profession and co-founder of a multi-disciplinary design practice in the kingdom, Rashed studied interior and spatial design at The University of the Arts London and completed a Masters of Architecture from The University of the Creative Arts.
He has exhibited his work in exhibitions around the world, including the London Design Festival and at the National Bank of Bahrain’s Seef branch, showcasing the structures of the Bahraini archipelago utilising fluid lines.
The ‘Visual Memoirs: Between Figuration and Abstraction’ runs until March 29, everyday from 9am to 8pm at the Art Centre near the National Museum.
Check out Rashed’s latest pieces @rashedalaraifi on Instagram.
