Untitled

Overview

Abdul Rahman Al Ma’aini’s works are fields of visual signals painted with accuracy and precision. Perhaps related to the historic science of alchemy – mystical, a form of the old ‘Heratic’ script or the magical ‘Hermetic’ symbolism – his painting is an impulse rooted in a special personal system that is at once ancient and contemporary. Possibly its source can be traced to the depths of the subconscious, or a collection of symbols, shapes, colours and marks that have remained in Abdul Rahman’s memory since childhood, carved in the fabric of what he knows. Maybe it has been inspired by the fast-paced life of the modern city, its endless stream of sounds, the giant moving billboards in the crowded streets, and the malls and shops. Or it could be the byproduct of the movie or TV scenes or the advertisements that fill the daily papers we receive so quickly from all parts of the world. The point of Abdul Rahman’s paintings is not to locate the sources of their symbols, but to look at them and convince ourselves that, yes, this is indeed a triangle painted in red, and that definitely is from a blue-square period. All Abdul Rahman has done is to make these elements visually tangible by placing them in the context of ‘the art of photography’.

simple symbols, painting them next to each other in a disturbed, paranoid manner. They magnify to the left, right, up and down, and they are coloured in a myriad of cold, warm, pale and bright colours. These colours and symbols intertwine to form an improvised musical visual fabric, moving along the surface at a great pace. They are the product of the excitement that dashes across the mental and visual tissues, though the nerves and muscles, creating a physiological activity; and they are transformed into the tangible elements of inspiring subjects and continue the ongoing infatuation with the new.
Hassan Sharif


This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 8.