Raafat Ishak
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 40cm
Contention Valley
, 2007Acrylic on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
18 October –11 November 2007
Raafat Ishak’s works broil with multitudinous ideas. To say that he has a restless intellect would be an understatement but he balances his political and social investigations with a sleek and beautifully muted graphic aesthetic.
Ishak is highly conscious of his status as an outsider in this predominantly Anglo-Celtic nation and his work veers dramatically from socio-political content to pure poetry. His semi-figurative work has embraced a cornucopia of subjects, ranging from references to his past in Egypt through his fascination with sport with both its grace and attendant violence. Ishak’s
interest in stadium architecture in particular, and sport in general, stems from a frustration, real or imagined, with the tendency to superficially manufacture social structures.
“Stadium architecture has developed from a set of conglomerate structures, representing a chronological order of development that is deeply entwined with tribal traditions and histories into a rental mass,” he says. “Basically, the ship, the stadium and dolphin paintings are the focus of the show, as much as they may be about criticism, politics, or even logic in general, they are essentially exercises towards formal values and aesthetics that I’m relying on to perhaps instigate other issues that are normally outside of my control” 1
- Excerpt from Ashley Crawford, Australian Art Collector, July 2007
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Ascension Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Coercion Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Constipation Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Contention Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Medication Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Partition Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Perversion Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Rejection Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Secession Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Speculation Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Tribulation Valley
, 2007Oil on canvas
60 x 40cm
Raafat Ishak
Acrylic on MDF
3 panels, 240 x 330cm total
Three Tears for White Trash
, 2007Acrylic on MDF
3 panels, 240 x 330cm total
Raafat Ishak
Acrylic on PVC and MDF
119 x 30 x 30cm
Three Dimensional Compulsions
, 2007Acrylic on PVC and MDF
119 x 30 x 30cm
Raafat Ishak
Installation view
Raafat Ishak
, 2007Installation view
Raafat Ishak
Installation view
Raafat Ishak
, 2007Installation view