«CONVERSING WITH DOORS» - [June 2022]

Khalid's vision of the city and its surroundings is as much a mark of the singular look he takes on his surroundings as it is the culmination of his personal journey as an artist. Passionate about drawing since
he was a child, it is however towards a more conventional career that he destined himself, after having studied business. Nevertheless, the call of art will eventually prevail, pushing him to educate himself by skimming everything he can find in books or online around this subject. His self-education quickly became a strength, allowing him to approach his work without being limited by the academic framing that faculty could have provided. For example, he describes the way he makes his monoprints as a «very primitive way of doing things». Lacking the usual tools to do so, such as a printer or a pressing tool, he develops his own personal technique to make them manually.

Influenced also by the Sufi mysticism, very present in Sudan, in which he has been immersed since he was very young, it accompanies him in all the stages of his artistic work, from the choice of the subject to his relationship with the finished works. It is notably this idea of taking time to contemplate his daily environment that he manifests through his different series of urban landscapes, bringing out the beauty of an urban environment that can quickly become bland for those who live it daily. Describing his landscapes as a «purely visual expression», they do not leave the public indifferent as they seek meaning. The absence of human or animal figures in his series opens up a whole series of interpretations of the hidden meaning of his work. For some,
these lifeless cities are a metaphor for the depopulating Sudan and migration. Others see it as an ally of modern life that creates lifeless living spaces. Some also see it as a way, notably through the choice
of colours, to highlight the architectural beauty of Khartoum, and by extension its inhabitants. Faced with these different interpretations, Khalid «hopes that his paintings will be interpreted in different ways» and that he only gives his «personal vision of the urban and natural landscape», making the mystery behind his artistic choices a little more apparent.

- Yacine Khiar

Urban Nature

In this series of paintings, Khalid deals with the theme of nature in the city. Vegetation is a constitutive element of the city of Khartoum, although it is not perceptible at first sight. Thus it is often at the bend of an alley, or
behind a door that trees and plants appear to those who want to see them. In this series, Khalid deals with nature on a human scale, far from the large green spaces. Moreover, thanks to his technical mastery and his personal way to realise mono print, the artist plunges us directly into his landscapes, by giving the illusion of the movement of the wind making the leaves move. By bringing out this vegetation from behind a door or a low wall, Khalid also deals with the very personal relationship that local people have with their flowers. These plants that spring up from inside the houses are thus both an expression of the intimate space that is exposed in the public space, and a way for the inhabitants to hide from the outside world.

One of the characteristics of Khalid›s work is the fact that he mainly makes these works on paper. However, in some rare cases the artist abandons his preferred medium to work on canvas, as is the case for the following paintings. The artist describes these works as an opportunity to innovate and experiment by stepping out of his
comfort zone, notably by working on square formats.

Moving from the rectangular format of the paper to the square format of the canvas forces the artist to adopt different compositions in order to respect the proportions of the canvas. The width being perfectly equal to the length in a square, this requires a certain rigour. And this rigour, which comes from a balance that is pleasing to the eye, invites the mind to follow the same path, i.e. to make a perfect circle around a centre that can only
be found in the exact middle of the square.

«Solstice of the Mausoleum»

The contrast between the colours in this painting gives an impression of a particular brightness, suggesting that it is a particular day of the year. Through this impression a bridge is created between the ancient beliefs attributing significance to particular lights and the Sufi mysticism, where nature occupies a central place. Furthermore, the artist reverses the colours traditionally associated with the earth and the sky in this work, thus contributing to the blurring of the audience›s temporal reference points.

«Small houses in a big world»

This painting is a complete break with the previous works on canvas both stylistically and thematically. The return to the rectangular format is used here to stretch the width of the canvas so that the background (sky and earth) appears endless, contrasting with the houses in the middle of the canvas which appear totally lost in a world too big for them. This composition also serves to support the work›s theme of depopulation. The fact of highlighting the emptiness surrounding the neighbourhood in the canvas thus indirectly addresses the issue of neighbourhoods being emptied of their inhabitants.

In these series Khalid starts to create works based on ink pens in black and white. This choice is above all a way for the artist to reconnect with his first passion, drawing, which he had left for a while to perfect his painting techniques. Working with an ink pen also offers him «a greater opportunity for small details». The sense of realism that emerges from these works gives Khalid's work an almost documentary quality by being as close to reality as possible. It is thus possible to see the patterns fleshing out the doors, buildings or interiors of houses in Khartoum.

This series of paintings occupies a special place in Khalid›s work. Although the artist's usual themes and style are present, the angle from which they are approached changes completely. Thus, by adopting a point of view coming from inside the houses, he turns the situation around and no longer depicts the solitude that comes from the outside, but rather that which comes from the inside, from oneself. The choice of black and white only accentuates this feeling of solitude and plunges the viewer into a kind of sweet melancholy.

The intertwining of buildings forming modern urban landscapes is a recurring theme in Khalid›s work. In this series, depicting aerial views of the city, the succession of buildings of different sizes refer to the architecture of Khartoum where traditional one-storey houses stand next to more recent buildings. Through these different types of buildings that coexist, it is possible to see an analogy to modernity and its relationship to tradition, thus questioning the very concept of what is modern or not. Also the colours chosen give an impression of pop-art works extending this analogy between modernity and tradition by contrasting with the nature of the work, which is part of the landscape tradition.

«Darker or night time: the anonymity of big cities»

Through its darker colours, this series continues to deal with urban life, but with other darker aspects as well. Subjects such as anonymity and the resulting dehumanisation of the other may be one of the keys to reading this series. The absence of the ground in all these works only reinforces this feeling of uprootedness, while the tormented architecture of the buildings reminds us of the vision of the city as the place of alienation by predilection of the human.

«The vertical labyrinth»

The architecture of this building can only remind us of a labyrinth in which humanity would get lost. This building, which seems to have neither entrance nor exit, appears to be a prison for those who live there. The
only trace of life is manifested through a commercial sign accentuating even more the human alienation in the service of unbridled consumerism. Thus in this work the city is no longer the place of fulfilment it is supposed to be but a threat to human nature itself.

«Nature is gold»

This work synthesises Khalid`s work perfectly by giving nature an almost exclusive place in the whole composition. Nature, and in particular vegetation, appears to the artist as a way out of the alienation in which humanity is trapped, and which he depicts more and more directly throughout this retrospective.

Biography

Khalid Abdelrahman is a contemporary Sudanese painter. Born in 1978 in Khartoum, it is this city, where he has spent most of his life, that serves as the backdrop for his works. Imbued with traditional Sufi mysticism, which considers that beauty is everywhere for those who want to see it, he draws his inspiration from urban details gleaned from his many walks. Through his art he encourages the public to take the time to look at the city in a different way. Although he studied business, he has always been attracted by painting and art. So if he draws since his childhood, it is really from 2011, that he decides to devote himself fully. At the age of 33, he begins his reconversion which will lead him to participate in several collective exhibitions, as well as to have the right to different personal exhibitions. Beyond the different spaces where he exhibits in Khartoum, his city and his inspiration, his art also allows him to expose his view on urbanity beyond national borders, including Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, until having in August 2017 his own exhibition in New Orleans.

Download Exhibition Catalog