Abdul Qader Al Rais greets all visitors to his studio with an obvious sense of warmth. Inside his workspace, which is part of his home in Dubai, paintings are piled high, with one always on the go.
Al Rais, who is in his 60s, is one of the pioneering talents of the UAE’s art scene and his works hang on the walls of an impressive number of palaces and government offices. He has even accrued a remarkable following, including Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and the Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikha Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan, who are both collectors of his work. Yet, despite all his achievements, the artist takes compliments with humility.
“My talent is something I have no control over,” he says. “It is a gift from God.”
Al Rais began painting seriously in 1965, when he was 14 years old. His father died and his mother sent him to live in Kuwait with his sister and her husband. “I was lucky because the Kuwaiti government was supporting art at that time so I had access to all the art materials I needed for free.”
Those materials included textbooks on Renaissance masters such as Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt, all of whom Al Rais describes as his first art teachers. “I couldn’t read English, so I just looked at their pictures in art books and I was amazed by their talent. Later, I learnt from Monet, Degas and Pissarro because I also love impressionism and by 1968 I had developed my own style.”
Original article by Anna Seaman
Continue reading at The National:
Inside the Dubai home studio of Emirati artist Abdul Qader Al Rais
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