#KoraliTalk - Ehab Abdulla
From finishing high school in Sri Lanka to studying adventure tourism in England and then a homecoming followed by a conscious awakening. One fateful day, armed with his first camera in the Malé Bazaar Ehab landed an offer as a newspaper photographer. Then, in his studio, you’d find Ehab with a palette of primary colours experimenting on his canvases. Now a man in his forties, Ehab expresses sentiments that echo even among his younger audience, he speaks his truth through his canvases.
How did your day begin?
I found a hard drive full of pictures, so I'm looking into that. I woke up this morning, I had a coffee, and I've been looking at past pictures I've taken in when I was living in Sri Lanka. I'm just looking.
You’ve been creating throughout your life is what I'm gathering.
I started after school, after I went to Birmingham to study adventure tourism. And after I came back to Maldives that’s when I started creating; pictures, graphic design and things like that. When I was younger, I had no interest in art. I have been creating regularly though since my early twenties.
I didn't really understand the gravity of what art is. When you're younger, you don't really create with all of this context behind it. I had my awakening a bit later as well.
The primary thing for me is if someone says that piece of art makes them feel sad, or it made them happy, I like that, rather than, some other sort of comment. If you feel something towards my art, negative, positive or even inbetween, that’s what I’d like. At least, I'm forcing you to make a decision on how you feel about it.
What happened around that age to get to that point of conscious awakening?
I think it was when I got my first camera, I was shooting photos around Bazaar Mathi, when someone said, “Why don't you come and work for my newspaper?”. That's how I got the job. That very much dictated how I went on from there. Within 2 weeks of having a camera, I already had a job as a photographer.
Your inspiration comes from the world outside you, and you use pictures, how big is your collection?
Photographs? I've lost so many. I used to work as a photographer. My first job was as a photographer for a newspaper. For three years, I took pictures every day, I just went out, and I had to take pictures. Then I used to work for a magazine. There is a lot of photography involved, more than painting. I have photographed more than I have painted. So there's quite a bit of it, at least three or four hard drives. Which I don't have at the moment, but they're around somewhere.
So you've been an art person?
One way or another. That's part of my process, taking pictures and such.
I noticed that you gravitate towards particular colours at different times.
I haven't been a painter for that long, and it's still, very much, in the learning process of how to put an image together. I like primary colors because I'm still getting used to them, big, bold, and colorful. And I hardly ever buy paint that is not primary, or a different shade. But other than that, when I'm buying paint, or when I'm mixing paint, I don't need to mix much because I'm using primary colors.
Then there's the yellow and the green, and I love blue, but it takes over things. If you put too much blue, it seems like the whole painting is blue. I love yellow because I did do a lot of big statement paintings about people, and who they are, and what they are like. Yellow just resonates, that idea of what you're trying to capture, being something very, how can I say it? Dramatic or something that I wanted to express. When I started painting, I had a lot to say, and I wanted it to be a statement, and I think the yellow and such, they help towards making the statement. Because they are so bold, they are brash colors, you know. You don't find many paintings where people are consumed by yellow.
So, those kind of things I did, I was trying to make a statement. I don't use yellow as much as I used to but, it was important for me to make that statement with colors.
What mediums do you mostly work with?
Oil on canvas. sketchbook is different. Inks, markers, crayons, soft pastels. I experiment on my sketchbook, rather than on my painting. My paintings are, I've done a couple with acrylics, primarily oil on canvas. And the reason for that being, I love the sense of tradition, because oil painting has been around for so long, for centuries, and I love being part of that tradition of people who paint in oil on canvas. You're involved in it, there’s nothing new about it, if you need a point of reference, you can always look back at, millions of paintings that you like.
So, oil on canvases, I love painting with oil on canvas.
Can there be creation without self-destruction?
Yeah, of course. I think, there’s creation with very positive influence, very positive outcomes. Some people have the ability to paint nothing, and it's still good. Just a random fish, and it can still be good art, but, it's not as much as engaging as some of the other subjects you could take upon. If you like drawing nature fish, and palm trees, you're still creating, and it's good for you.
I definitely think there is art without self destruction. It can bring very positive vibes and a positive nature to your personality if you don’t always take on those kind of subjects that are self-destructive.
We’ve talked about the creating aspect about it and the destruction part of it. Does it have an effect on you?
It does. When I first started painting, I used to get a lot more likes and stuff like that, and now I get about 10 likes, but that doesn't mean my art has diminished over the years, I don't know what's happened. But the fact is, popularity of your art shouldn't also deter you from doing what you want to do. And the path you are on. It’s such a personal thing, you just have to stick to your own ideas and what you want to do. It doesn't matter what people are saying. If you really love painting, you will paint no matter how many likes or whatever you get, it doesn't matter. if you love painting, you do your own thing and you just keep on going, irrespective of what other people think. It’s based on feelings and emotions. I meant, when people like your painting or not, it's based what they feel at that moment, on their own. You have to separate the two. There is a time when you want to show it to people. But most of the time, it's just between you and what goes on in your studio.
Is this how you navigate these very two different things to do what you're doing?
Yeah. I'm trying to navigate through these things.
Would you tell us if there are any of your paintings that you’re unable to exhibit, but remain dear to you.
There is. It became very dear to me because it's crumpled up and I couldn't exhibit it recently. I wanted to, but it was too crumpled up, so I couldn’t. It's about women in cricket, a woman playing cricket. One of my huge loves is cricket, it’s important in that way. Personally, I think it is one of my better paintings, and I would love to see what people think of it. I know cricket is not that famous here, but it would be good to see what people think of that painting.
I think what you have spoken to me would be important for young people to read because when we were growing up, did we have such honest conversations about stuff like this?
Yeah, we didn't, did we?
Do you think there's unworthy art? Art nobody should ever see and was meant to be destroyed?
The hard thing about art is, you gotta stick to your principle, which is to make good art, and that doesn't always require people's opinions. If you start thinking too much about people, you might start doing what you think people would like as opposed to being true to yourself in your art. I think other people come into the equation once you want to exhibit it. You bring someone over, and you show them your work, and then it takes on a whole different life.
Yeah, actually, that's true.
As soon as you show it to someone, it takes on a whole different life, then you're worried about people's opinions, and what they think of your art and who you are and it all gets very complicated very quickly. What I'm trying to say is, like, you have to stick to your own ideas in your own, the way you do things, you have to shut out all the outside, influence to keep going in your style or your manner of painting. Because if you start painting what other people want, then what's the point?
You have answered about your identity as an artist, but what would you say about who is Ehab as a person?
Who am, I the person? I'm very grateful to be able to be doing what I'm doing, because I don't think everyone has the opportunity to put aside everything and become an artist, so I'm very grateful to be in that position.
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