WHITE WEB 2011

Rashid Al Khalifa made this web of white lines over a ground of dark colour. It's all about mark-making, the kind of art where the process is right there on the surface. I love how you can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the surface. The white lines are scrawled and layered, like a screen or a veil. Down below, the dark area is a solid, grounded presence, built with what looks like gestural strokes. The texture is thick, and the color is opaque. Zooming in, you can see all the little bumps and ridges where the brush hit the canvas. It makes you wonder what kind of tools Khalifa was using, and how much he was thinking about each stroke. It reminds me of the work of Agnes Martin, with its focus on line and repetition. Except Khalifa’s lines are a bit messier, more human. For me, art is a conversation that keeps going, so it's not about fixed ideas, more about seeing what can happen.