She might not look like Bahrain’s own, but her works of art prove otherwise. Find out what the eldest of three really talented sisters told us as she joined us for a cup of coffee.
Born in New Jersey, USA to an American mother and a Palestinian father, Karima Sharabi was raised in Bahrain, providing her with a solid artistic foundation upon which she was able to build her creative skills. It instilled in her a tolerance for divergent beliefs and backgrounds.
The existence of differences in her life doesn't end there. Studying at Parsons School of Art and Design in New York should have brought her naturally to the field that she is now revelling in. However, this artist set off to a tangent and graduated with a degree in political science from Montreal. A glance at her work and you will notice that the underlying theme in any of her pieces is the beauty that she finds in disparity.
Her style
Karima describes her work as 'glorification of the mundane' whereby she merges a vivid, and at times neon colour scheme with rather ordinary subject matter, often portraits of ordinary people doing ordinary things. In doing so, she elevates the action of the individual and the individual himself.
"I have always been fascinated by the portrait-work of artists like Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin who employ seemingly unnatural colours to mould the faces of their subjects," she explains. "I really like the bright, lively colours as well as the socio-political subject matter of pop artists like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. Their works gave me the impetus to elevate the everyday ordinary acts of eating and drinking."
According to her, this style of refining the ordinary changes the significance of the subject or object and the painting takes on a new and more representational meaning. Recently, her work has touched on socio-political issues as well. This, combined with her vivid colour scheme has resulted in pieces that often appear dreamlike and imaginary, as if we are viewing the subject by staring through a colour augmenting lens, a peculiar reminder of our tainted sense of perception.
Worthy of note
Her exhibition at the World Beat Café in 2010 was more than just successful. But she was most recently noted for her depiction of Ravi Kumar, a construction worker in Bahrain. Often disregarded in our society, labourers typically live dreary lives. Literally highlighting Ravi with washes of neon pink, Karima forces the viewer to notice him.
This self-taught passionate artist takes inspiration from everything and everyone around her, especially if it has got something to do with everyday life. For instance, she reveals her choice of colours is a reflection of those on her children's toys.
To aspiring artists, Karima admits the key to staying inspired is to turn any feedback into positive criticism.
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