MANARAT AL SAADIYAT
We are delighted to present works by Rafik El Kamel at the Abu Dhabi Focus Art Fair.
Tunisian painter Rafik El Kamel situates himself within the ebb and flow of artistic trends, eluding easy classification. Intuition and coincidence prevail over calculated expression. Despite defying classifications, his formative years instilled in him a relentless quest for perception—an essential quality that his work will never forsake. He channels his vision into the intricate interplay of planes, shaped by light and shadow, as he contemplates an arrangement of spaces that breathe life into his paintings.
His canvases weave the language of abstraction with tangled threads of the habitual and the cultural. In this series of 1983 artworks, he transcends the rigidity of line, evoking a new sense of architectonic structure in his depiction of whitewashed houses, verdant landscapes, and quotidian scenes. At times his compositions are converted into residents-free landscapes, appearing haphazardly calibrated. This artistic approach was borne from a state of withdrawal and retreat, preceding the artist’s predilection for collage. The latter’s endless interplay of shapes and values enhances our perception and interpretation of space, and by challenging all ease, it unveils the hidden nuances of form.
The emphasis shifts from line and symmetry to the impression and essence that the forms and colours wield. In these abstract evocations of space, the interplay of planes is determined by light and shadow. The colour palette of muted hues is contrasted by the dark and dusky shapes that seem to signal windows, entrances or portals, reflecting his experimentation of identifying locations through light. As Zoubeir Lasram notes, “The diffused light of Sidi Bou Said reveals itself through subtle transparencies, while the light of the Médina is interrupted by shadowed planes”. This series’ arrangement and composition embrace a sense of tranquillity, as if ambulating through familiar yet shifting assemblages and assortments of memory. Rafik El Kamel’s scenes of the quotidian are suspended in a discreet theatricality that transcends time. By rejecting any nostalgia, he positions them as traces of a lived experience.
