"Memories of Jasmine": When an artist paints his home

Abdulwahab Otif is from Jizan, Saudi Arabia. That may not mean much to you dear reader, but it does, a whole lot, to Otif.
In his latest exhibition "Memories of Jasmine," his art has to do with where he comes from and quite a bit of his pieces are even made from material found in and around Jizan, either as oil paintings on reed mats like "Sword dance" above,

"Composition of tradition 2." Why is there an ottoman in front of the art?

"Composition of tradition"

 

"Evening." Notice how the colours correspond to the time of day in the painting's title.

 or with natural colours on a mat.

"Dawn"

"Shelves"

This region's economy is based off of agriculture and tourism and in fact is known for its production of figs, papaya and mango. And of course, its jasmine.

"Jasmine girl." (Oil painting on canvas) Notice how this artwork depicts the private life of women's work, as its subjects are uncovered. How did Otif get access to this scene?

"A party with jasmine." To be honest, I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at here.

Another theme that Otif incorporated into his work was the depiction of the traditional dwelling used in Jizan.

"Jizan Decoration." You can see them in the background as well as in the "decoration" itself.

"An evening from there"

"Decoration from Jizan" (Digital print)

Here are the rest of the works of art. 

"Approach"

"Fol and Fol" (Pastel on paper)

"Kady" (not for sale)

"The Four and the Camel"

"Tradition"

I enjoyed looking at different pieces of art with mixed mediums, although I liked the ones done on the mats the best. You had to step back to really see the image that Otif had painted. I also feel like the exhibition title was appropriate because his artwork ranges from the year 2000 until the present and so it shows his memories of Jizan. He wasn't sitting here in 2015 thinking back to a certain time and place. Instead, Otif chose pieces from different years in his past that were all focused on where he comes from, a place so different from where they are exhibited. So in a way, these paintings serve as tangible "Memories of Jasmine." The exhibition is on display until March 7 at Desert Designs Art Gallery. They range in price from SR2,000 to SR15,000.