RACHID KORAÏCHI: Ecstatic Flow

Describing the essential qualities of Islamic art, the Jordanian artist Wijdan writes that:

“It focuses on the spiritual representation of objects and beings, not on their material qualities. Neglecting the exact imitation of nature, the Islamic artists chose a two-dimensional stylisation to represent their visions. The artist’s quest was for the eternal representation of the spirit.”

Rachid Koraïchi’s refined work perfectly exemplifies this quest to embody a complex spiritual vision by means of works on paper of exquisite subtlety and imagination. The work of Koraïchi, a Sufi by familial practice, is explicitly devoted to the expression of the mystical elements of the Islamic tradition. The central theme of Ecstatic Flow relates to the lives and teachings of fourteen Sufi masters dating from the 7th to the 17th Centuries, presenting fourteen sets of eight lithographs, one for each of the subjects treated. The subjects include such well-known figures as the mystic Ibn El Arabi and the poet and traveller Jalaluddin Rumi, as well as lesser-known (in the west) masters like Ahmad al Tijani. This latter was a member of the Khalwati order of Sufism (also known as the Halveti in Turkey), which places emphasis on good actions and intentions rather than the requirements of elaborate ritual expression. Al-Tijani was the founder of the Tijaniya Order in North Africa, in the late eighteenth century, which extended the borders of Islam towards Senegal and Nigeria as later adepts introduced large West African kingdoms to their practices.

Image: Jonathan Greet

For more information and images visit: October Gallery