Lebanese artist Al Kadiri to showcase works at Albareh

Manama : Arcadia, a solo exhibition by Lebanese artist Abed Al Kadiri, will open at Albareh Art Gallery on January 22.

The expo, organised under the patronage of Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Undersecretary of Passports & Immigration Directorate, will be open from 7:00am to 9:00 p.m.

After more than 10 years of working on socio-political themes, Abed Al Kadiri conceived this exhibition as a form of mitigation between himself and the reality of the contemporary world — an attempt to find peace in the midst of a war-torn region.

Al Kadiri took several steps to briefly detach himself from the harsh truth of the world. He stopped watching television, avoiding the dreadful events reported across global media. 

Most noticeably, he created his own physical space that supported his vision of a better surrounding. For months, the artist re-imagined the backyard of his new studio in the heart of the busy city of Beirut, planting it with shrubs, flowers and vines to breathe new life into his newfound space. The gardening ceremony was similar to that of painting. The artist revisited his latest work, especially his latest series telling the story of migrants drowned off the Greek coast. Al Kadiri wondered what his relation was to that harsh reality, trying to find a human standpoint that does not center on the tragedy, but instead opens a mystical door leading to a metaphorical heaven.

Inspiration came unexpectedly from an unknown artist who portrayed a young couple in a charcoal drawing that Al Kadiri saw in their relative’s house. The couple had travelled to Greece by sea in search of a better life but were never heard from again. Struck by the poignancy of their disappearance, Al Kadiri saw in the pair his protagonists, an archetypal mortal man and woman, heading to Greece in search of a dreamland.

The impact of the artist’s burgeoning surroundings, replete with colour, was stronger and deeper than the tragic moment itself. Al Kadiri wanted to drop the couple off to their long-awaited wonderland, their peaceful shores, and their paradise. He started by painting his own rendition of the couple, whom he saw in that drawing, wearing a lifejacket trying to hold on to life. But instead of being swallowed by the sea, the couple gave birth to a new life and grew plants on their bodies that crept up on their shoulders. His botanical surroundings at the studio unexpectedly appeared on the canvas, morphing the blue hell into an exotic nature—wild, yet peaceful and harmonious.

Al Kadiri was born in Lebanon in 1984. Double majored in fine arts and Arabic literature. In 2006, he fled the war in Lebanon and settled in Kuwait, returning in 2016.  Al Kadiri is a curator and worked as an art critic from 2006 till 2010. He established FA Gallery in Kuwait in 2010 and in 2012, he took on the role of Director at Contemporary Art Platform Kuwait where, he conceived several curatorial and educational programmes.