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Colourful Identities
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Colourful Identities

Colourful Identities

Acrylic on canvas 120*90, 2022, Art courtesy of the artist.

By Ithraeyat Editorial Team
October 20th, 2022
An Interview with artist Hakim Al-Akel

"I started drawing at a young age, and through drawing I would discover things and spend long hours drawing and imitating the drawings I see in Egyptian magazines, especially faces. At that early age, my older brother's friend took me to learn drawing with the late artist Hashem Ali - the founder of the Yemeni art movement- and I began to practice drawing on a regular basis, under his direction and supervision.” 

This was the beginning of the experience of the fine artist Hakim Al-Akel, who completed high school before joining the study of art professionally, motivated by the great ambition within him. He began watching, reading and learning more about art and contemplating the paintings of the Renaissance artists and the subsequent art schools and trends, which constituted a strong motivation to complete his studies.

Acrylic on canvas 120*90, 2022, Art courtesy of the artist.

The subjects of his paintings came in a sequential manner that expresses his research journey. He went through the adventures of permanent experimentation and moving from one experience to another, while his main inspiration was still taken from those life experiences he lived and from the memories of the places he lived in, and the people with whom he grew up. He lived in a diverse environment despite its extreme privacy, from which he drew inspiration that married with his knowledge, skills and culture to formulate his paintings. 

He believes that all art can have an impact on society, and it is not necessary to follow a specific art school in order for an artist to express his style.

He also believes that talent is found in almost all children, and when they are given care and provided with the right tools, their desire to define a certain identity will appear over time, and this often happens after they complete their school and choose their fields of specialization. It is a science like all sciences that need study so that the individual can be professional through knowledge, information and thought, in addition to talent, which leads to the formation of a special vision that imbues their artistic production.

Acrylic on canvas 120*90, 2022, Art courtesy of the artist.
Acrylic on canvas 120*90, 2022, Art courtesy of the artist.

Concerning his future projects, he mentions that art has no end, and as soon as he starts a new painting, it becomes his next project, and he would be interested in continuing research and production until he collects enough to hold an exhibition that contains this experience. Then as each exhibition ends, a new experience begins in order for the creative process to continue. Those that view his paintings will receive his messages clearly; they are not vague symbols that need to be explained. 

The creative process is motivated by feelings and influential moments that drive Hakim to paint, through artistic expression that is embodied in the painting. For him, the painting is the product of a series of contemplation, experimentation, and mental and practical planning. Sometimes he finds it difficult to start a new painting, especially after every successful painting, for fear of repetition. To find a solution, he meditates, especially when he walks daily in the early morning; this helps him to find solutions to intractable paintings, which most of the time need technical solutions. 

Meditation also helps him evoke memories and imaginations and reformulate them with an artistic form of deletion and addition until they reach a convincing harmony that drives creativity and completion of the work. For him, art is the practice of life in all its many forms and shapes, from the time he wakes up until he falls asleep rethinking everything. 

Identity is the honest formation of the human being, and the closer the artist approaches the thing he understands, the more truthful he would be, and identity is the cosmic knowledge of the human formation that connects the individual with his society. He did not aim to highlight the identity, but drawing and colours express what he understands and loves and form an important part of his life and memories, without intending to draw an identity.

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