The expanse of Farid’s canvases in this collection therefore represent the delicate equilibrium we as a species traverse between the temporal and intangible realms.
Celebrated international contemporary talent Ahmed Farid’s fifth exhibition with Safarkhan is an artistic exploration and abstract meditation on the resonant notion of intersectionality. His conceptual impression of intersectionality refers to our world having in recent times become enveloped in a sort of stasis that to a great extent has suspended many of the norms that comfort us, resulting in a crossroads of psychological, physical and societal forces. This idea of the amalgamation of mental and physical “Crossroads” has been the stimulus behind Farid’s latest collection, which he created laboriously throughout the midst of the pandemic.
For Farid, these altered individual and collective states were not merely something to wrestle with or resist. Rather, it was his own embrace of the certain welcome aspects that it also brought, which now animate the typically optimistically effervescent painting style he has risen to prominence on. Namely, these took shape in the form of bringing us closer to a more profound understanding of the world around us, and our collective responsibility towards one another and the planet. Elsewhere, it is a contemplation of adopting a more measured and unhurried pace in our daily affairs, coalescing us into more grounded and thoughtful states of being. Ultimately, Farid brings to fruition the meaningful clarity and creative impetus that arrive from seclusion and isolation to newer undiscovered horizons.
“Crossroads” refers to the artist’s own personal path, and the eventual crossroads that he has met, and will continue to meet, in his artistic journey. Crossroads that symbolize the significance and fatefulness of choice above all else, our yearning to choose, and the subsequent learning that comes with the choices we make in life. The expanse of Farid’s canvases in this collection therefore represent the delicate equilibrium we as a species traverse between the temporal and intangible realms. That is the metaphysical domain of our spiritual selves, where the powers of intuition and subconscious reign supreme. It is where we find the source of inspiration for Farid’s painting, the artist not only at a crossroads within his own personal and professional capacities, but his desire to express the collective crossroads we face and will surely continue to face as conscious beings in the world.
