Continuum

Regularly inspired by his surroundings, Bahraini artist Rashid Al Khalifa formulates works that merge traditional and contemporary architecture with the natural environment. The light, colours and atmosphere specific to Bahrain’s landscape determine, to a large extent, Rashid’s resulting formations, as he transforms these qualities into prominent wall sculptures and immersive installations.  Rashid continually draws upon his experiences and environment as a source of inspiration. His latest work reminisces about the past in the same moment that it reflects on the future and in doing so, is suggestive of tradition and heritage, as well as inherent of a futuristic sensibility.

Bahrain’s topography has undergone drastic changes since Rashid embarked on his artistic career as a landscape painter in the 1970s, yet despite rapid urbanization, the spirit of those early days lingers. It is to witness the vivid pastel hues that are cast across the horizon at dawn, or the glowing sunset shimmering over teal blue waters; to experience the nostalgia of traditional architecture, or to feel the warmth of Bahraini culture, that evokes one’s memories of the past. Rashid aims to both immortalize these traditions and anticipate the transitions.

Each period of Rashid’s oeuvre describes his ongoing investigation and desire to meld tradition with modernity, as well as the natural with the manmade. In many ways, his work is built on contrasts, through his subject matter and use of medium; a means to examine the transformation of his native landscape and to contemplate changes in his life.

Spectrum

Rashid’s Spectrum series reflects on the ‘rules of repetition’ in Islamic art, one of the most important aesthetic principles of Islamic architecture. The frequency and repetition of a shape in Islamic art, however complex, creates the illusion of infinity whereby the frame that holds the pattern is incidental: the symmetrical pattern continues beyond the bounds of the frame. Harmony arises from this state of infinitude. Spectrum takes such principles and contemporizes them by playing on structural attributes that are also reminiscent of contemporary Arab architecture, additionally integrating a specific palette and tones that are characteristic to Bahrain’s landscape.

Waves

Much like his Spectrum series, the rhythmic repetition in Rashid’s Wave works, allude to his desire to express order and symmetry whilst creating imagery that shifts and transforms within its surroundings. Located at the crossroads of trade routes between the East and West, Bahrain’s strategic position has seen pearl merchants, traders and seafarers traverse this tiny island for millennia. Literally meaning ‘two seas’, the word ‘Bahrain’ refers to the freshwater springs rising from beneath the salty seabed. It is this connection to water, that has long attracted voyagers from distant lands, sparking their curiosity about the desert island oasis that notably, during the Dilmun civilization (4000- 800 BC), was described in early Sumerian texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, as a sacred garden paradise, teeming with lush mangroves, palm trees and sweet water. Bahrain’s waters have long been a vital source of livelihood for its inhabitants. Notably in the early 1900s, Bahrain held the highest position in the international pearl trade, renowned for cultivating pearls of the greatest quality. The dhow, or traditional Bahraini fishing boat, was designed specifically for pearling and is now also an important symbol of Bahraini heritage. Such customs have shaped the culture of the Bahraini people, whose relationship to their land and surrounding water is synergetic.

Les Roses de Bagatelle

Inspired by the Château de Bagatelle’s flora, the pastel colours and joie de vivre of Rashid’s Les Roses de Bagatelle calls to mind the history of these gardens, as well as the delicacy of the surrounding landscape.

 Serving as Rashid’s personal meditation on the rose, in its natural form and as a metaphor, this series was completed in 2018, in continuation of Rashid’s convex work, aluminium works, whereby each of the flowers appear in various patterns upon the façade of each work. The resulting symmetrical compositions emit a sense of rhythm, a statement in many ways that evokes purity and simplicity as well as the ephemerality and romance of his earlier figurative paintings.

About the Credo Bonum Foundation

The Credo Bonum Foundation, established in 2006 by Tzetelina Borislavova, is an independent, non-governmental organization that strives for positive change in modern society, focusing on sustainability, environmentalism and cultural initiatives.