Contemporary Landscape
Khalid Abdurahman
Article by: Mahasin Ismail
*all pics cridet to the artist
Our collective memory seems to categorize landscape as something of the past a nostalgic genre or an absolute practice which had no place in day and age which art is dominated by abstraction, insulation, conceptual or minimal art, all we could think of is romantic landscape of John constable or cloud monet impressionest takes on the genre.
finite, realistic depreciation of the world, classic, but maybe a bit boring, this what up & coming artist thought about however, the opposite seems true, contemporary landscape genre in which outdoor entertainment or natural scenery is depicted and the artist does not strive to obtain a pure naturalistic depiction, rather to develop a contemporary perspective on the scene will never end .
One of the most talented contemporary landscape artists of his generation, is Khalid Abdurahman currently working and reside in Khartoum, Sudan. Khalid is best-known for his vivid, bold, vibrant, daring colors in simple forms to create astonishing visual effects, the artist found timeless inspiration in urban areas architecture, rethinking the narrative potential of landscape painting.
Khalid highly recognizable visual language is known as " magical realism" this pretty resemble the narrative we create in our dreams, which often does not make any rational sense yet never questioned. influenced by large plains of color takes all over the canvas reminiscent to the tradition of old masters painting using landscape to depict their scenes, Khalid takes similar yet upmost contemporary manner. He paint from photographic material and from memory.
Khalid crafted his artworks combines famillier elements of our environment. However, Khalid ditched the realistic values and shows the colors he wanted to show and not the ones you see in nature, colors no longer had a representational purpose. From rural houses, glimpse of urban building to religious tombs and ancient monumental shrines, Khalid can transform a deceptively simple landscape into a colorful and virtous painting adding blues, yellow, faded pink and green into his composition dedicating oneself to the nostalgic genre of landscape painting, illustrating it’s never ending relevance in today’s art world.
Khalid examine the medium of painting focusing strongly on image theory, the collective memory and contemporary culture, as a horizon and atmospheric perspective of the yellow skyline became a key reference point in the painting to start to behold and grasp his composition, another advantage to shade light on is the artist outstanding ability to switch between pastels, acrylic and pen and ink colors without affecting the quality of final work , result in staggering and most often breathtaking masterpiece paintings.