BAHRAINI creative Khalid Al Muharraqi’s latest artwork ‘The Golden Boy’ showcases the legacy handed down to him while also shining a spotlight on his own journey.
The trailblazer in the world of digital art and design has built on an original painting by his father – celebrated artist Abdallah Al Muharraqi – while adding his own essence and unique vision to the piece.
“Some years ago, my father showed me this sketch and I thought ‘how can I take his work and add to it’. So, I took his concept and built on it,” Mr Al Muharraqi told the GDN.
“I made it something that works for today by using all the digital tools at my disposal. It took me almost 10 days to finish, sometimes working 12 hours a day,” he added.
The creation depicts a mother holding her dead son, symbolising how parents might unknowingly lead their children to their doom due to their faulty beliefs.
“I draped the mother in black because of the death of her child. Some parts of her have gold, representing the ‘purity’ of her belief. However, it’s not real gold. It is a thought that this is the best way for my son so, if you see, she infected her son with her concept. That’s why he is converting to gold, but he died along the way due to the actions he had to take.
“The darkness that she is coming from, you see it ending in her limbs at the bottom, converting into a viper or golden snake. My dad had added a snake but I converted it to gold, in keeping with my concept,” the Houston Art Institute alumna revealed.
The painting reflects cubism, an artistic style Al Muharraqi senior is well-known for. ‘The Golden Boy’ has retained that detail and even used the original proportions and lines, which the artist (Khalid) believes was ‘important’ and ‘challenging’ to execute.
“My father created concepts that are dark, usually with a twist, and that had an emotional impact on the viewer, which I’m inspired by,” he added, highlighting his tendency to have ‘dark twists’ in his artworks that often tell a story.
Some elements that feature in his concept-based art include mythological creatures, cyborgs, and other futuristic and esoteric ideas. However, they tie with reality in some form, often nodding to the artist’s cultural heritage.
Mr Al Muharraqi, 54, has fond memories of visiting his father’s gallery when he was younger. While he was born and grew up in Manama, his grandparents are from Muharraq. He was raised in an atmosphere of creative expression and credits his father for almost everything he learned about art as a young artist.
“We didn’t have social media back then but every time my dad travelled he bought all these creative books that we kept going back to,” he added.
Mr Al Muharraqi always knew he had big shoes to fill but was also determined to forge his own legacy. Right from his university days, he always challenged himself to try new ideas and ace them.
“At art school, one of my instructors told me ‘listen, Khalid, you can be good at one thing but you can’t be good at everything’, which was very valuable advice. However, I am stubborn and wanted to prove otherwise,” he revealed.
Over seven years, he studied graphic design, branding, photography, digital retouching, fine arts and some interior design, and returned to Bahrain to bag a job at a popular creative agency on his own merit.
“In the interview, the boss said, ‘oh, Abdallah’s son, of course, he is going to get a job here’. I felt like I had been brushed off as an artist. But then, he asked me to show my graduation portfolio and once I presented my work, I got appreciated as an individual artist on my own,” the Muharraqi Studios founder and chief creative revealed.
The artistic entrepreneur has been successfully running his studio for the last 10 years, with a portfolio ranging from traditional hand painted works to digital creations.
He also designs portraits for Bahrain’s royal family, as well as stamps, coins and jewellery. His expertise spans a wide range of disciplines, including illustration, modelling, animation, sculpture, and more. Two years ago, he began practising a combination of digital art and AI (artificial intelligence), a testament to his versatility, and is also involved in branding and architectural projects.
Not one to rest on past laurels, the creative has exhibitions lined up in the coming months, and is keen to explore newer art forms.
“We are going really deep into architectural visualisation systems – we create interactive systems around or related to art,” he added.
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