California 2011

Rashid Al Khalifa's "California" presents a compelling interplay of color fields and linear gestures. Broad, flat areas of green, white, blue, yellow, and pink are overlaid with rivulets of dripping black and white paint. The composition is divided into distinct, yet harmonious sections that immediately prompt questions about representation and abstraction. Khalifa uses the formal device of the drip to subvert the traditional notions of painting. The drips act as a visual language, blurring the boundaries between control and chance. The artist destabilizes the clear distinctions between the planes of color, reflecting a broader artistic concern with challenging fixed meanings. In its use of color and form, this work opens a dialogue around the very nature of perception and the complex layering of signs that constitute our visual experience. The surface is far from simple.