2011/2023 - variable dimensions, mixed media and oil on canvas
Empty Walls is the title of a series of paintings by Farid Rahimi, created by the artist since 2011: an investigation into the potential of spatiality in painting, based on controlled improvisation and the repetition of a single subject, which in some cases can become elusive and impalpable.
The theme or motif at the centre of the work is therefore a corner formed by two walls, “a slight depression,” in the artist’s words, which suggest a hypothesis of space if not the presence of actual rooms: a sparse, essential image, never too defined or definitive.
Each painting appears to be the result of a struggle: an assertive encounter between forces defines the potential of an environment; another representation complicates and fragments it, manifesting itself through tremors, deletions, hesitations and regrets.
Thus the arrangement of certain elements (mostly openings – doors and windows) may subvert the essential perspective framework underpinning the image, escaping the organic nature of vision. In this way, the image of the wall multiplies, giving rise to a dense atmosphere, i.e. complex superimpositions and stratifications capable of contaminating each other. The corner is covered by lines and backgrounds that cancel its presence, for the corner is an energy centre and not a concrete space. The room opens onto a boundless landscape (a portion of blue) or closes into black rectangles that make it recede towards the first floor. Indeed, some backgrounds or shapes that cannot be traced back to reality are arranged on a ‘surface’ plane, attenuating the depth of the pictorial space, for “asignificant and sensational” strokes and brushstrokes (Deleuze) lead some paintings to veer towards abstraction.