Khaza'al Owad Al Qafas was born in 1944. His family ,like most families of his days , was poor. Owad ,his father, was a hard working ,straight forwards simple man , typical of old days folks, reliable and loving of his children .He had a special feeling for Khaza 'al , whom he deemed the most sensitive of his brothers and sisters. Skilled in handicraft, he was earning a living by making cages, beds and basket of palm leafs ,hence "Al Qafas" ,meaning the one who makes cages .
Mother was a kind lady but her sadness could not escape Khaza'al. Such feelings of tenderness and devotion as he felt for her , are reflected in some of his best sculptures. His motherhood of 1977 , a large carving in wood, is the incarnation of his love for life ; a nexus of memories, of feelings, of emotions and imagination presented in two aspect of perception, one looking back into the Egyptian past and observing the heroic proportion of the figure , the other looking ahead into modern design .
Ever since he could remember Khaza'al was fascinated by his father's skill in making things ,he would sit quietly watching him working , wishing he had the tools to do what he was doing .Anything his father was putting his mind to do ,he did it with an artistry that had an aesthetic appeal of its own . From those early memories came the inspiration of many of Khaza'al sculptures in clay ,in wood and in bronze. "Al Entedar " (waiting) and "Borg Al Qafas " (the cage's tower) , are reminiscent of those early influences.
Anything having even a remote connection with art attracted him; he would get enchanted watching boys drawing figures with colored choke on the walls of houses, some of them trying to imitate film posters , others adding malice to their drawing .To him it was all beautiful and innocent, he never saw a lurid thought in them, they were free expression of moods and he found pleasure in watching them coming to life .
Khaza'al childhood was fairly happy ; being of a sociable disposition he was popular with his friends. With them he engaged in every known play of his days ,fashioning his own toys to play with ,or selling them . He loved the sea and no scalding from his father, who feared for his safety, could prevent him from spending time in the water or going fishing .
Schooling began with six months at one of the Qatateeb (private school of early days ) and continued at regular Government schools. He loved history and geography and everything interested him ,but drawing lessons were his favorite.
In drawing he felt the freedom of expression , of being himself, of exploring the world around him with the eyes of an artist and learning to see beyond the surface of things . He learned to explore and express his own feeling and gave color to his emotion .
From the time he became involved in art all his pocket money was spent in color pencils and other material he needed . He was lucky in having teachers who let their students free in their choice of subject, free to experiment according to their own inclination . Khaza'al felt comfortable with the human figure . Painting a tree or a landscape without a human figure lending expression to his thoughts and feelings had no meaning for him . He felt no fulfillment nor satisfaction in drawing nature devoid of a human image .
An Egyptian art teacher Ahmed Dwama, noticing his happy disposition for sculpturing with clay, gave him the key to the school atelier and encouraged him to spend his free time in it .
That was the beginning of his involvement in art and the weakening of his interest in study .When Ayoub Hussein ,the renown Kuwaiti folklore artist of later days , became his art teacher, his interest took yet a stronger motivation .
Art was taking all of his thoughts and concentration away . Unable to continue with his study he made his decision to leave school with the intention of continuing later on.
STRESS LEADING TO NEW LIFE
Enhancing his determination of leaving school was the fact that, from about the time he began schooling his father had to sell their house ,and from that time he was shifting from one district of town on to another and that involved changing school as well .In eight years Khaza'al frequented a dozen schools ,sometime he had to be transferred at mid semester and that was causing considerable stress on him ,till eventually he could not bear it any longer . At the end the situation had become so enervating that it became almost impossible for him to concentrate in any subject and he give up .
Changing place needs a lot of readjustments specially in changing school. Even changing place in the same classroom may have its affect on a student .Meeting new companions might had been easy for a sociable boy as he was, but adapting to the new teaching methods of other teachers could never be easy on anyone .Khaza'al had to do it over and over again and in spite of his growing tension he could still manage to pass each year .What helped alleviate his anxieties probably was his involvement in art and the appreciation he felt from his art teachers wherever he went.
Eventually art took over all his attention . It was then that he decided to leave school, look for a job and gain a certain independence .
Father was worried ; knowing the importance of a good education he tried to persuade him, even bribed him with a substantial increase of his pocket money ,but for Khaza'al once he took a decision there was no turning back .
In 1963 he found a clerk job at the Ministry of Interior, the pay was good and that gave him a feeling of importance and satisfaction. Among his new friends at the ministry was Sami Mohammed, a young artist dilettante, who introduced him to the Free Government Atelier .
From the moment Khaza'al stepped inside the Free Atelier he knew his life would never be the same again .
The place attracted him ; it was the world he always had wanted to be part of . There he met other artists and dilettante, sculptors like himself, all working under the direction of a talented art teacher , the Egyptian Enwar Serugy.
Enwar was a very sociable and loving man, he imparted knowledge and confidence to his students and created an ideal atmosphere of creativity for them.
Every day ,soon after work at the office, Khaza'al and Sami were going straight to the Atelier to practice art under his direction . Soon he was graduating from pottery and little figures in clay to making large size sculptures in various media . He was so absorbed in what he was doing that nothing else distracted him. Time was passing so fast that night came almost unnoticed.
Only when feeling hungry he stopped to eat the food that was brought in and shared by everyone.
The Free Atelier of those days was an inspiring place ,there was a feeling of belonging enhanced by the spirit of alike minds sharing ,and competing in creative mood .In it Khaza'al discovered the subtle happiness he never felt before in his life and the feeling was captivating .
Only when exhausted he was going home to rest ,for in the morning he had to go to work .
In 1964 it was suggested to Khaza'al and Sami to apply for sponsorship at the Free Atelier. That was the time when Government officials were very keen in developing every new tendency beneficial to the cultural development of the country and the fine arts were taken into serious consideration .
After convincing their superiors at the ministry of Interior to release them from duty, Sami and Khaza'al wrote their application for Government sponsorship. On the 7th of July 1964 they were accepted as part of the professional Artists group of the Free Atelier , hence the Pioneers of the plastic arts movement in Kuwait .
For Khaza'al that was the happiest day of his life and the beginning of his new career . In 1966 with Sami Mohammed, Abdulla Salem and Abdulla Al Hasshash he left for a course of studies at the Fine Arts Institute of Cairo ,Egypt .
There his professor was Jamal Al Sigyni, a sculptor of competence, but unlike the friendly Enwar Serugy who spent all of his time with his students, giving them all of himself , his knowledge and his secrets , Jamal Sigyni conducted class with cool detachment and briefing .Khaza'al learned little from him, but his frequent visits to museums and archaeological sites widened is interest in ancient Egyptian sculpture, whose influence persisted through the years of his development .
Beneath the rigidity of the ancient Egyptian form he found the quality of permanence and strength that fascinated him ,therefore he made it the basis of his own style
AMBITION
At home the atmosphere of the Free Atelier had been keeping the young Khaza'al quite busy and involved by his creative mood .By contrast , in Cairo he had all the free time to catch up with his studies .In 1967 he joined evening classes, fell in the first year, but passed with good marks in the next . At his return from Egypt ,in 1970, he continued evening classes till he graduated from higher school two years later.
His return to school sparked his ambition to get his Master in fine art and he was hoping of going to the United States for it . By then he was married to a young relative and had settle down, but although he was happy with his lady , he was miserable and annoyed because his mother and his father in-laws were against him practicing art ,specially sculptures .
No one in his family till then had ever objected to his activity .Indeed from childhood he had been allowed to play with clay making figure ,even he was encouraged by his father to freely express himself .In growing up he made his choice of career and no one could divert hi from it .
Torn by his loved for his mother whom he could not convince and his passion for art which had become his life , Khaza'al was unhappy. Keeping to himself and continued in the pursuit of his career and felt quite relieved when in 1973 he was granted a scholarship to study Fine Art in the United States
Leaving with his wife he spent the first six months in Washington D.C. learning the language ,then he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in San. Francisco.
Life in the States was an open mind experience at once exciting and fruitful .
He loved the atmosphere of freedom he found there; freedom of expression , of thought , of ideas . He saw people as they were in their natural behavior ,in that spirit of live and let live that makes life at once agreeable and productive in competitive mood .He also saw some bad sides of that freedom, and kept alert and away from them .
At the Academy of Fine Arts he remained one year, then changed into the Fine Arts Institute of San. Francisco where he felt more comfortable with the teaching methods .There ,being more happy he was learning fast.
He experimented with new media , new methods of sculpturing, and all the time he maintained to his own individuality of style ,hence its originality and strength in reaching maturity .
After he graduated and got his Bachelor degree he returned home.
However ,soon after he was back in the United States with Issa Saker for two courses in
Bronze casting at the Johnson Institute in New Jersey . But while Issa remained there , Khaza,al went back to San Francisco where he felt more comfortable with the method of teaching , then returned to New Jersey to complete his course.
His dream of getting his Master in Fine Arts was never fulfilled
CHANGING TIMES
At his return Khaza'al was eager to put into practice what he had learned, but he soon discovered that the free ebullient atmosphere of the sixties had gone .
the flare of enthusiasm for novelty in cultural matter had been damped by surging a wave of negativism in society from which the artists were the first to suffer .
The sculptors, in particular ,found themselves in tight waters for they were essentially dealing in anthropomorphic subjects which the religious fundamentalists stood against From the eighties and through the nineties everything linked with high culture was waning. Art lives and prosper in enthusiasm, it will wither and turn mediocre if surrounded by indifference.
Casting in bronze is a tedious and expensive affair. To cover the cost the artist has to sell his work at a high price, and when no one cares to buy or to commission him for a particular job ,his creativity is dampened .
Khaza'al and other talented sculptors turned to painting to give to maintain their creativity ,while still making sculptures to satisfy their yearning , for in them is the .
revelation of their soul which in turn promotes the life of the soul of those who are touched by the suggestive incorporation of ideals in them . Ideas that have character and substance, and manifestly reveal the strength and nobility of the human soul.
Perhaps two of the most suggestive works of Khaza'al of this period are " AL FARAG" (emptiness )a life size bronze created in 1979 ,and "AL ENTEDAR" ( the waiting) 1981, also in bronze .
EMPTINESS, is a highly eloquent work of art ,suggesting by the empty shell of a human figure ,"Kuwaiti" , reclined in abandon , the departure of the old Kuwaiti spirit ,that zest for living with purpose and creativity so strong a social trait in the old days . In it the artist has captured the actual, familiar fact transfigured into a spiritual agent , into a figure retaining its essential connection , but relieved of its human substance .
In itself Emptiness is a symbol and a carrier of what Khaza'al feels in his ponderous view of the life around him . In it we discern the curious wisdom and detached serenity of the artist for whom life holds no mysteries nor illusions.
The symbol is neither vague nor ambiguous; in its stern simplicity it becomes an emotional stimulant of great force.
In another work ENTEDAR (Waiting), the spirit is flushed of everything that is trivial and temporary. It is the suggestion of timeless waiting presented in the weaving of the cloth and the matting of palm leafs in congruous form that enhances our perception by extending our capacity for contemplation and creates within us a new vision of milling humanity .
AL MENAKH
An artist to be worth of the name must be an historian of his time .
In the late seventies and early eighties a strange phenomenon befell Kuwait and the Gulf countries ; the so called "Menakh" (The Stock market ) had become a mania of such a magnitude that it was threatening the stability of the state
Almost everyone , even some women wanted to try their luck and few actually became millionaires almost overnight. The Bursa become a place of heated passion , an addiction to a gamble in which shares of illusive corporations, with no substance to their credit, were bought and sold.
Bouncing checks were causing such a crisis that the government had to step in to put an end to the crazy .The gamblers lost everything ,their fortune, their house their freedom and some even their life . Unable to pay their debts and facing imprisonment some died of heart attack, others took their own life. The mania that began with a crazy dream ended in a tragedy an d ruin for many families
On that period Khaza'al produces a number of works that testify to his concern .With realism and dignity, spiritual strength and psychological insights enhancing his message, he produced works symbolizing the greed of man.
"ASNAN" (Teeth ),a 1979 bronze ,is perhaps the most suggestive of the series,The mandible with clutched fists instead of teeth leaves no doubt as to the true portent of the message, which is almost dramatic in its simplicity.
In another bronze of 1980 " Al Menakh " ( the Bursa) the symbolism is equally powerful .Here is an end to the dreaming and the awakening to bitter reality .
The coins, sinking away into oblivion, suggest the lost dream of wealth and power and the desolation left behind in the heart of those who gambled .The broken coffeepot is the harsh reality confronting them .
For when they were wealthy and powerful with money to burn ( quite literally, some were showing off by lighting their cigarette with large bills) they had friends following them everywhere . In bankruptcy all that popularity vanished ,they had no one to turn for help or even a kind word.
In another work "Al Qirba" (water skin )a 1980 bronze Khaza'al presents yet another version of disenchantment and hard reality .
The coins and bunch of lines on the fully inflated sheep skin suggest the buying and selling of shares, while the inflated skin itself as a symbol of wealth in abundance, is ruptured revealing dry bones (empty dreams ).
Blinded by greed and the passion of adventure men gambled with their fate . All amateurs in the field of commerce ,upon who old timers in the business looked with smile unimpressed but cautious and alert .
Khaza'al himself never got involved in the Stock market ;content in his role of observer he noted the scramble with a critical eye and calmly studied the result .
Incidentally this period is incidental to his final development , for it flared his creativity with a purpose transcendently certain and definite.
The works of this period , without exception, are not concerned with hopes and dreams but with human nature, after it has been sorely tried.
His idiom is that of an artist who observes a situation, reflects on it and creates an emblem , a spiritualized version of humanity consumed by a ruling passion ,GREED
. Such symbols as he created are impregnated with his own personality and searching knowledge of life .
In general all the works of Khaza'al are centered on the human theme and the simplicity of symbol is fresh, captivating and inspiring. In them there is nothing sentimental or eccentric, for the message they convey is worth of the artist best efforts.
To get at their meaning we do not have to trench our way through devious technical barriers, everything is presented with manifest directness, hence their strength and communicative power for which they are highly appreciated .
Khaza'al received many prizes ,the more recent of which was during the Bangladesh Biennale and the Mahabba Festival in Syria . He won the competition for a monument to the China-Kuwait friendship, which he executed in location in China , another winning was at the competition for a commemorative monument in Bosnia ,which he also carried out on location in Bosnia ,at Mostar .
Lately he has been planning his first personal for the year 2001 in which he will include the works of three decades between sculptures and paintings
By Lidia Qattan