{"id":7141,"date":"2022-02-15T08:30:01","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T06:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/?p=7141"},"modified":"2022-12-17T11:04:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-17T09:04:09","slug":"l-a-artist-rachid-bouhamidi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/l-a-artist-rachid-bouhamidi\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Artist: Rachid Bouhamidi"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Aura,” oil on canvas and “Shiri in Green,” portrait of an artist, oil on wood, 2022, Rachid Bouhamidi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Rachid Bouhamidi<\/h4>\n

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Q: How do you think growing up in Los Angeles and other areas of Southern California has influenced the way you see the world and make art?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Growing up in Los Angeles I think has compelled me to try to find themes and a way of painting that reaches as many different people as possible. It has made me acutely aware of class and the divisiveness of economic inequality and political disenfranchisement among the poor and immigrants of color all over, although my work does not usually address those issues directly.<\/p>\n

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Q: What role does myth and storytelling play in the creation of your paintings?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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From some initial state or context, I’m trying to posit a new plane of meaning to the subject matter in my painting which I do by assigning a kind of acting role for the people I depict. So my friend who is an artist and conversationalist becomes “the great story teller” whose speech is imbued with magical qualities represented as floating linear arabesques against patterned forms. A woman locked in isolation becomes the goddess Artemis, frozen on a flat terrain in the act of hunting. The sense that these paintings have mythic properties or tell a story is something that I think is very subtle and has as much to do with the personal experience of making the paintings.<\/p>\n

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