Aref el Rayess, a sculptor, painter, designer, and beloved father, was a prolific and eclectic Arab Modernist whose oeuvre spans the colonial, decolonial, and so-called postcolonial periods. The painting Toli’ al Bader Alaina (1982) depicts a maquette (a scale model) of one of many sculptures el Rayess and other artists were commissioned as part of the Jeddah embellishment project. One such piece was Column of Light (1980), a 28-metre-high aluminium monument representing the word Allah, installed in Palestine Square. Referencing a nasheed, a song for the Prophet Muhammad in al-Madinah, this painting belongs to Desert, a significant series in which the desert landscape, dunes, and structures emerge from colours both hazy and vibrant. He, his wife, and daughter left Lebanon for Saudi Arabia in the 1980s during the Civil War.
This is the first time the work of Aref el Rayess is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Khushi Nansi
