Faridollah Adib Ahein, born on November 7, 1965, is an artist and researcher, musician and painter of modern art and one of the most influential contemporary painters of Afghanistan, who has been engaged in artistic activities for nearly four decades. He has a doctorate degree in electrical engineering and art.
He was born in a family of art and culture. His father, Azizollah, was an army commander and his mother was a teacher. Faridollah entered school at the age of 5 and completed his secondary education in Herat. When the civil war in Afghanistan intensified, he and his family fled to Iran in 1979.
Adib Ahein, is a collector of Afghan cultural and historical paintings. He is a visual artist, critic, engineer, inventor, innovator, entrepreneur, researcher, collector of cultural and historical works of Afghanistan, owner and founder of “Rahe Lajovard” museum and a member of Scientific Association of Visual Arts of Iran and the owner of various inventions and innovations in different fields. Some of them have been registered in Iran.
He is known as one of successful and prolific contemporary painters of Afghanistan due to his diverse and multifaceted collection of works.
Adib Ahein’s early works were influenced by the style of Afghan realism, but due to its limitations, he sought to explore experimental and abstract approaches. In the early 1990s, he started experimenting with avant-garde and abstract styles and extensively researching them. His abstract works are characterized by vibrant colors, dynamic and energetic yet controlled brushstrokes.
Adib Ahein, used techniques such as drawing tools on canvas to create textured and layered compositions. These abstract pieces allow for a more subjective and emotional response because they lack specific references to reality and encourage viewers to interpret works in their own way. His mental explorations in art, abstraction and other artistic elements have left an indelible mark on contemporary art.
Because of his special view of art, he creates his works on the canvas with an active and aggressive method. Way the element of accident is lost in it.
In Adib Ahein’s thought, design does not exist before creation of work and everything happens at the moment of creation of the work of art. The process of performing and creating an artwork by him, from this performance method, is a process related to mental states of artist.
Few artists can be found who, like Adib Ahein, has gradually changed his artistic style and at same time is determined and loyal to his painting genre. While others give up painting and replace it with technological tools, Faridollah Adib Ahein continues to work on canvas. Of course, nothing is obvious in art and he himself knows this. No one has dealt with issue of truth like him and with special skill.
His works are always about painting, interpretations of work with a brush, spatula, tension and action, and this is basically basis of his art. His subjects are act of painting itself, its inspirations, desire to reach truth and real representations. Also, color and different ways of using it are deep focal points of his works.
According to himself, his paintings lack understanding for public. Each of his works is like a cover drawn on something.
The methods of this artist can be listed in following cases:
Drip Painting – Faridollah Adib Ahein’s most famous technique involves pouring, dripping and splashing paint onto large canvases placed on floor. He moves around canvas, applying paint in an apparently chaotic manner, creating complex and dynamic compositions. This approach allows him to physically engage with canvas and emphasize movement and spontaneity in his artwork.
Action Painting – His technique is often referred to as “action painting” due to physical and performative aspects of his creative process. His movements and gestures while creating a work of art are essential elements of final piece.
Gesture Abstraction – This artist’s drip paintings are a prime example of gestural abstraction, a style in Abstract Expressionism that emphasizes artist’s gestures and hand movements. Paintings convey a sense of energy and emotion through dynamic and spontaneous use of color.
Allover Composition – Another characteristic of Adib Ahein’s works is “allover” composition, where entire canvas is covered with paint, leaving no central focal point. This approach departs from traditional Western concepts of composition and perspective and invites viewer to explore artwork from different angles.
Emotional Expression – Abstract Expressionism, including this artist’s work, is often associated with emotional expression and introspection. As many critics believe, Jackson Pollock’s paintings, which use the same expression, reflect his inner feelings and mental states.
Realism – Early in his career, artist was influenced by a type of realism that emphasizes power of the subconscious mind and liberation of creativity from rational limitations. This influence can be seen in some of his early works before he developed his style into drip painting.
Influence on Abstract Art – Artist’s innovative techniques and artistic philosophy had a profound impact on the development of abstract art and inspired subsequent generations of artists to experiment with new forms of expression and expand the boundaries of artistic conventions.
A look at some works of Adib Ahein
One of notable works of this artist from category of conceptual paintings is called “Authority of Opium”, in which he created a distinctive way to present problem of drugs in painting and blurred lines between reality and abstraction. He created large-scale, rough-textured and realistic-looking paintings with ordinary elements, such as animal faces and Afghan poppy fields. The symbolic power in these works is cow’s head with opium flowing on its horns.
“Red Waterfalls” is one of Adib Ahein’s abstract works that shows his mastery over color, texture and composition. Using techniques such as cascading pen movement to create cascades, this work creates complex layers of color that display mesmerizing and ambiguous surfaces.
“Mulla Mammadjan” is a combination of music and painting in expressionist style. The notes of the famous song “Mulla Mammadjan” are written with color in this work, and pitch of notes is based on rhythm of Afghan classical music and two-bit of this song.
Let’s go to the tomb of Mulla Mammadjan
Garlic flowers and tulips are with us, my dear
Go tell your friend that your friend has come
Daffodils, your buyer has come
“Raga Mala”, is another work of this artist that was created in connection with music. Raga Mala, is the title of Indian music which is composed in framework of time, day and night or season. In this work, ragas are created with seven notes, which are also common in Afghanistan. Raga, is an abstract expressionist concept, but by no means has a definite structure of its own. However, abstractness of work and uncertainty of concept of rhythms and colors can be interpreted by audience in any situation. In “Raga Mala”, color spots represent alleys and back alleys and people of Afghanistan in streets, who live in rebellion and suffering and disorder due to dire political situation of their country. The social harms that have confused and severely complicated the fate of their country are fully felt in colors and form of this work.
Faridollah Adib Ahein’s other painting, “Red Marron”, expresses human tranquility. However, it shows multifaceted nature of humans in current world. The color textures of this work appear chaotic at first glance while conveying an underlying sense of rhythm and harmony. The painter’s visual manipulation of color and line leads the eye through a labyrinth of interconnected forms on a journey that encourages thought and reflection.
The painting “Potholes” shows borders that were formed during more than three decades of civil wars in Afghanistan and their consequences, which continue with negative changes of recent years. The black lines represent border line for Afghan refugees to different countries that are shown with different colors; is drawn. Thicker lines show strictness of different governments in front of accepting these displaced persons who themselves had no role in this displacement.
The activity license of collection of valuable paintings under title “Rahe Lajovard”, owned by Faridollah Adib Ahein, has been issued by the General Department of Museums of Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism of country (Iran). He is first known collector of Afghan paintings in Iran. The major part of his property is collection of Afghan art works, which is more than one hundred and twenty five paintings, works of Nasrullah Sarwari, prominent artist of Afghanistan, which he has collected and kept in last four decades. This artistic treasure is a messenger of cultural, historical, ancient monuments, natural landscapes, class life, villagers, nomads, suffering workers, poverty, writers, philosophical, social, political, mafia, war, violence, robbers, seeking freedom, fighting against It has depicted injustice and truths of life in all corners of Afghanistan in the course of history in half a century.
Points of view
The concern and passion of painting leads us to believe that the world can be transformed with it. If not, there will be no motivation to work and it is better to leave it. Because painting is essentially meaningless without a purpose.
My paintings are based on a certain form of world as seen by the eye of camera. And each person still interprets from his own point of view.
My works depict things as they are, and also give insight into psyche and people themselves. I am always loyal to these two principles and I even show that art of realism shows only a part of reality and may even distort reality. I also emphasize that abstract expressionism painting is more result of foresight and objective phenomena, such as color and image background, rather than draining of any mental energy.
I believe that there are no lines in nature, there are only areas of color, and importance of color and rejection of traditional and rigid lines favors interaction of color and light.
I consider art to be a means of touching universal truths. My artistic style is based on geometric abstraction and uses symbolic geometric shapes such as circles and squares to convey deep spiritual concepts. This method allows works of art to go beyond limitations of material world and have a deeper impact on audience. The use of colors is also used to express deep feelings and emotions, I use art as a means to convey communication and ideas of life, and in my artistic evolution I pay attention to geometric forms, harmonious compositions, and spiritual and deep themes.
With my works, I try to challenge concept and understanding of the surrounding world. I question what we usually see and what words we use to describe it in my paintings to invite viewers to discover unexpected and hidden aspects of human experience. By creating enigmatic and thoughtful works, I try to challenge audience’s attitude to reality. In expressionist style, I want to create a deeper connection with viewer by sharing creative designs and expressing irrational and dreamlike aspects of human consciousness.
Detailed and abstract painting techniques, along with dreamy and contradictory elements, challenge conventional expectations in my paintings. This type of painting has a folk poem and music, whose representation is a new interpretation of language of art. Throughout my career, I have explored relationship between words and images and have used language in my paintings to create paradoxes and challenge viewer’s perception. The innovative approach in visual storytelling and engaging viewer in philosophical and intellectual research has been a source of inspiration for me and I continue to pay special attention to this issue.
I think a painting is more like real world if it’s made from real world, there’s no reason not to think of world as a giant painting, a painting is more like real world if it’s made from real world.
Art, is highest form of self expression where you can’t do anything wrong because it’s for yourself when you create it’s always good. You are a painter, you are an artist, just go ahead and work.
I have a specific goal in creating my works, but I don’t know artistic system and path. I don’t have any plan, style or destination and I like to work in an unlimited and boundless space, because I avoid certainty, continuity and repetition.
Combining music with painting
Recently, I have been painting notes of Indian classical music, Raga Mala. I have painted Persian poem and song of Mulla Mammadjan on canvas.
I want to turn music into painting. Performing chromatic works of Indian classical music is one of my goals.
The power of music is revealed when notes, beats and tempos are shown. I show them with pictures. I have been researching music for about ten years and this process is still serious for me and continues anyway. My attempt is to turn music and musical notes into paintings; It means to paint what is being played at that moment. I am researching to implement this idea and project (turning musical notes into paintings).
I plan to go to all Persian-speaking cities in other countries and implement painting and music project. I have been working on category and art of music for all those ten years. I play an instrument myself and live music is our soul and has been with me since I was a child. I must say that performance that I am considering is considered to be an impactful event for artists first of all. Performing music and creating a painting at same time is an impressive event in itself. I also want to say that with this project, I intend to somehow make Afghan music groups visible. I also studied classical art and then studied modern art.
Classical art, based on styles of realism and naturalism, was very boring, boring and repetitive for me. Anyway, tprocess I had in presenting artworks unconsciously and spontaneously made me move away from classic and realistic styles and start creating abstract works.
Art, teaches us that behind appearance of things, there are hidden secrets of world. Everything we see hides other realities and art allows us to discover what is hidden and present unknown concepts. We always look for images that have unknown meanings, because these experiences stimulate our minds and expand new perspectives.
I believe art is chance of soul to prove body is a liar, to be an expressionist is to ban from your mind all things you have seen and always watch out for things you have never been.
