About Artist
 
JAMAL ABDUL RAHIM
 
I live and breathe on print, sculpture and canvas.  Inspired by a sense of place, my voyage with art is one of both discovery and provocation. I use oriental colors and figures that I have absorbed in my childhood and others I have acquired as an adult.
On my canvas, I like to work on different subjects but when it comes to portrait, I use familiar faces to everyone. I want people to look at the paintings and ask themselves why am I using an image that is so familiar, but at the same time I need viewers to see the techniques behind the painting and to enjoy every single detail in it. I believe that a work of art that doesn’t provoke the viewer into some kind of reaction is not artistic.
In the world of print I discovered from an early age that printing and etching were what I wanted to do most. It all depends on the techniques, and the more you work the more you learn and discover new techniques. It’s an endless adventure. I have already spent almost 25 years of my life in the field of  printing and I am willing to spend the rest of my life doing so. Maybe this fascination with printing is what brought me to the power of the word. I have been reading lots of books in the fields of humanity, mythology, history, poetry, etc and I felt that art is a merely visual form of text, which lead me to start the projects of the handmade art books. Until now, I produced almost 30 handmade art books with different subjects and techniques.
As for sculpting, it’s a form of relaxation for me. I have become an avid sculpting fan and believe that stone is already beautiful and by sculpting it, I am inspired, withdrawing that beauty into a form. I work to enjoy myself and I only feel happy once I have completed a particular project that I have been working on.