Lot 137: Halim Al Karim , Iraqi B. 1963 Goddess of Dubai lambda print under nylon, in three parts

each: signed, titled, dated 2003 , and numbered 2/3 lambda print under nylon, in three parts

measurements note each: 106 by 106cm.; 41 3/4 by 41 3/4 in. overall: 106 by 318cm.; 41 3/4 by 126in.

Asian Art News, Halim Al Karim, May/June 2008, p. 77, illustrated in colour

XVA Gallery, Dubai
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Inspired by the principles of mysticism, Halim Al Karim's works have an undeniable spiritual aspect to them. In sculpture and in paint, and in the manner of the Sufis, Al Karim is absorbed with uniting the hidden and revealed, light and darkness, and the material and ephemeral. This interest of Halim Al Karim's essentially stems from his experience of conflict in Iraq and of teetering between life and death. As has been relayed, between 1989 and 1991, Halim Al Karim hid in a hole in the ground that was covered by a dome of rocks with only a few cracks to let in light and air. Al Karim survived three years in the hole by virtue of the kindness of a Bedouin lady from whom he learned about gypsy culture, magic, and spirituality. Halim Al Karim says of this revelatory time, 'Through holes in the dome, I could watch the whole galaxy.' Halim Al Karim's period in hiding, in addition to his having lost four brothers and a sister to violence and his witnessing of the fragility of life in Iraq today, led him to turn away from the brutality of reality and take refuge in the shelter of the realm of thoughts and dreams. A firm believer that self-discovery occurs through suffering, Halim Al Karim's anguish led him to set out on a journey towards an elevated understanding of his own being. From this metaphysical search, Al Karim developed a comprehension of his self and of the contemporary world that is very much based on the traditions, philosophies, and symbols of his ancient ancestors and in particular the Sumerians, a comprehension that clearly manifests itself in his work. Since 1984, Halim Al Karim has been seeking out what he has described as the "Goddess of the Soul." Al Karim took his inspiration from a Sumerian sexual rite of passage ceremony for young women. Through this ceremony, young women were transformed, in society's view, from being ordinary females to being goddesses to be admired and adored. Halim Al Karim has spoken of the echoes of this ceremony in present-day rituals of love and in life. Al Karim believes that love reveals a hidden aspect of the self which, perversely, we chose to conceal, never recognizing the power and potency within us, the supernatural part of ourselves. The obscured female faces of the triptych Goddess of Dubai tell of the awakening of women in modern Arab society and of their realization of their inner strength.