DESERT PAYSAGE 13 1992

Rashid Al Khalifa made this painting, Desert Paysage 13, with strokes of peachy pink, light brown, and touches of blue. I can almost see him building up the image, layer by layer. The canvas feels like it’s breathing. It makes me think about the push and pull that happens when you are painting: the building up and scraping away of paint, the dancing between intention and accident. There's a rhythm to the brushstrokes, a sort of visual music. I bet Khalifa was feeling something when he laid down those marks – maybe the heat of the desert sun, or the way the sand shifts with the wind. The colours he uses remind me of a Georgia O'Keefe landscape. Painting is like having a conversation across time and space, isn't it? Artists are always in dialogue, borrowing, stealing, and transforming each other's ideas, each adding their own voice to the mix.