Sampling souqs - A narrative in shapes - Artist statement
Living and travelling in the Middle East since 2012, I feel like a modern day nomad. From Saudi Arabia to Egypt and on to Kuwait, at each location I arrive empty handed but full of curiosity for what this new home country will bring. With a background as a museologist, I like to study and learn from other cultures. I am a guest offered the opportunity to look inside a new world.
I feel a deep yearning to make connections and build up knowledge and understanding of the world around me. It all stems from an intense wonderment and curiosity of what is out there, and there is no place more fascinating than a souq. They are lively, bubbly and noisy. Abundant in new smells and tastes. With people passionate about their merchandise. Cities and societies were born from them. Souqs are their beating hearts, their soul, their essence.
Visiting a souq is like immersing myself in a new world. It fascinates me to be surrounded by something so fundamental to life and so full of energy. There is always something new or different that catches my eye, that sticks to my brain. That lingers. Fruits and spices, cafes and tents. Subjects and themes embed themselves in my brain. It becomes an experience I want to share. A story to tell in my own words as a visual artist. In my mind and in the studio these quotidian items merge into abstractions. The process of painting becomes a permanent dialogue between the abstract and the everyday details. The result is a narrative in shapes. A smörgåsbord of the best souq ingredients in a series of artworks. A sampling of souqs.
As a painter and visual artist my work over the years is ever-changing. This evolution has been influenced by life itself and new insights have been incorporated into my painterly lexicon. It is interesting for me to realize that my personal blueprint is still the motivator to continue searching. My need to learn and to create is ceaseless.
Working on this particular series, I incorporated some, for me, novel techniques. By integrating collaged elements, both consisting of paper and canvas, it created an exciting shift in breaking the relative two-dimensionality of a painting. I also played with a warped perspective, basically flattening some images and exchanging positive and negative shapes in some of the works. This process resulted in a wide variety of paintings. Even so, every new work informs the following one and also has tens of ancestors itself. They are all related. I have grouped the artworks in several smaller series: seasonal and local fruits , tent souqs, spice souqs, food carts and so on.
I would like to invite you to join me on my journey. To allow me to take you along my perspective of souqs in the Middle East and see how I celebrate the ordinary in and around these everyday markets. And while I pass my visual narrative on to you, in my own semi-abstract way, maybe my expressions will trigger your own stories and images as well. In that case, please be my guest.
Kuwait, 2022