ISMAIL RIFAI

Ismail Al Rifai, an artist and writer born in Syria and now based in Sharjah, uses an expressive brush to explore inner feelings, human strength, joy, and the experiences of everyday life. For Al Rifai, time becomes an extended and almost limitless moment in which to create works that reflect his understanding of aesthetic values while recording the difficulties, achievements, and personal diaries of existence.

His artistic practice has evolved from abstraction towards figuration, increasingly incorporating human figures, animals, and hybrid human-animal forms. These figures become vehicles through which the artist explores the hidden beast within every human being, examining the instincts, contradictions, and emotions that exist beneath the surface.

Al Rifai’s paintings combine expressive gestures with an ongoing investigation of the human condition. His figures inhabit a space between the recognisable and the imagined, allowing the artist…