All Dressed up!
Rafic's Cyber Tribe
On his art, gossip-culture and the dress code revenge
Love him or hate him, you’d be hard pushed to ignore him. In the new art-scene of fabulous Amman, Rafic reigns supreme: being a local artist who became one of the art go-goers is a living proof of what a little bit of determination can do. My.Kali chats with one fab-geek who turned his blog into a personal art data-base. Yet it isn’t really the revenge of the geek, it’s more like the revolution of the art-scene. “The art scene of Amman is relatively young and emerging. It still has a long way to go to be honest. But it’s happening!” Rafic points, it’s a sacred haven for him whether it’s a figure of speech or an actual lifestyle, and where’s the limit? When do you start saying ‘STOP, this is not art’? “I don’t think anyone has the right to say this is not art! Because 70 percent of the art pieces are the artist’s personal reflection on something. The audience’s part is whether they like it or not! For me personally, I don’t relate to classic-painting or even figurative paintings, but I can’t deny that it is art.” He points back.
On a typical day, coffee-junkie and social butterfly, Rafic, 21, can’t hold still but noting ideas from his head for establishing new projects. Rafic is all about art, the new-age of contemporary arts “I am all for visual art generally, but more of digital art is what I practice mainly. Especially photography, video art and mixed media works.” He says. Rafic publishes his digital photography, videos and art-scenes updates on his blog The Enchanted Fairy, where he feels more in touch with the people who shares similar interests “There is nothing better than cyber-walls: my blog, Ikbis channel and sometimes FaceBook” he says. His Blog starts with a banner that says ‘My right to live, to choose, to be’ With his blog, where he creates a small world of beauty, diversity and arts, as the enchanted fairy said himself, maybe there where fairies really live! “I was named the enchanted fairy four years ago by my ex-bf,” How mushy, right? Well, we already pinched his cheek, oh too many times, “the reason we came up with this name was how much I admire fairies. Free spirits gender-less fragile creatures. And I just kept living with it” But is he artistically adventurous? We dared and asked, but what would a tween like Rafic look forward for? “Live art acts, combining visual art and physical theater. Dealing with the elephant in the room. The last few minutes of a raver. Displaying his Spirituality and psychedelic culture…”
And there you have it all! Right on the cover wearing a spring-flowered dress, revealing the rug of love, and talking about art, quite random, miss-understandable, but inspiring! So what’s the Rafic’s principle really? What can an artist in a dress really calls for? “Maybe this is the craziest thing I’ve done in ages! But that’s the whole point, making a statement.” He says “What I see in our scene is that they’re not comfortable in their own skin, how they approach their sexuality, masculinity and how very stereotyping we tend to be…, and I am not just talking about the gay scene, am talking about the straight scene as well…”
"What I see in our scene is that they’re not comfortable in their own skin, how they approach their sexuality, masculinity... how very stereotyping we tend to be…"
speaking of the local scene, other than the occasional slaps and down-pushed the stairs moments, (Dynasty anyone?), Rafic is right among the crowed baby! Dealing with the drama, causing the drama, serene and calm, cute and blunt… “Nothing the artsy skinny bitch attitude can’t handle, no?! It’s one amazing safety net, blunt and honest. If I like the person I like him/her. If I don’t…I just say it to their faces. I’m a very exclusive person when it comes to my personal life. But gossip still comes out, so I come out with scandalous monkey-jobs every now and then to give them juicy stuff to gossip about.” He comments back, for a moment I thought he’ll stand up and slap right from across the table, but that was just the bad-cheesy scenario in my head. Brushed up he is, confident, but what strikes you the most, that he actually knows what he’s doing, he knows what he’s talking about, regardless the weird mumblings he comes out with occasionally, but he’s the golf ball-right in the whole!
Knowing Rafic is certainly a light-delight! His life’s soundtrack has got to be either David Bowie’s "Nature Boy" or this track by his favorite band Mashrou3 Leila called “Khaleeha Zikra”, but he’s a knower! He’s a guy you got to know, meet, and chat with, just make sure not to ask him any of these Questions: Oh, you’re an artist? You paint? So tell me tell me…who are you doing now a days? And as I said, love him or hate, or is that right?
Knowing Rafic is certainly a light-delight! His life’s soundtrack has got to be either David Bowie’s "Nature Boy" or this track by his favorite band Mashrou3 Leila called “Khaleeha Zikra”, but he’s a knower! He’s a guy you got to know, meet, and chat with, just make sure not to ask him any of these Questions: Oh, you’re an artist? You paint? So tell me tell me…who are you doing now a days? And as I said, love him or hate, or is that right?
Rafic shares with the My.Kali viewers a sneak-peek into a work in progress, that he’s working on now: My entire new concept is how people carry themselves, their body image, the reflection and manipulation media plays on them. Using photography to mixed media paintings and videos. You can get more updates by checking Rafic’s Blog The Enchanted fairy, and get to his twitter, FaceBook, flicker, and Ikbis (here>)