Rodi Khalil

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Rodi Khalil (2012)

Rodi Khalil (born October 1973 in Tal Hedat near Damascus ) is a Syrian artist of Kurdish ethnicity who has been living in asylum in Germany since the early 2000s . He works mainly as a painter and as a mosaic artist .

Life

Rodi Khalil grew up in a poor family in a village near Damascus and has been interested in painting from childhood . After finishing school he studied art and oriental decoration at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Damascus from 1995 to 1999 . He then worked, among other things, as a set designer at the Theater of Damascus and made decorations for various television films broadcast in Syria , which were produced by Jordanian television stations. He also worked as a visual artist .

In Syria , Khalil was exposed to constant repression and repression because of his Kurdish ethnicity, as was his entire family and like almost all stateless Kurds in Syria . He felt this lawlessness again and again during his childhood and school and university days as well as during his professional and artistic activity there. So he got no identification papers; At times, like all students, he was banned from continuing his studies after raids and was only allowed to continue his studies after some time, and after completing his studies he did not receive a full diploma despite the same performance as all other graduates. During and after completing his studies, he had various art exhibitions in the Ukraine, Lebanon, Kuwait, England (London) and the USA (New York), which he was unable to attend personally because he was required to leave or enter the country missing identity papers were denied.

Khalil came to Germany as a political refugee and asylum seeker at the end of 2003 , where he continued his artistic work. He also worked on the decorations for a film produced in Germany. He lived in Westerstede , Lower Saxony , from 2004 to 2010 , where he was best known for various mosaic restorations and for the art and cultural exhibition Rhodo 2010 , which he curated and which showed selected works by artists from the Ammerland during the 2010 Rhododendron Festival . Since Kahlil has lived in Germany, he has had other art exhibitions in Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey and Spain. Khalil is a member of the Federal Association of Visual Artists (BBK Bremen) and of the International Society of Fine Arts (IGBK).

Rodi Khalil has lived in Bremen since 2010 .

Artistic work

Khalil's artistic means of expression is primarily painting, he also deals with mosaic art and writes poetry. According to his own statements, his painting style is a mixture of impressionist and expressionist art . In his pictures he deals with the pictorial symbolism of ancient cultures, such as the Assyrians , Marians and Medes , and shows the “beauty of Syrian mythology and culture”, but also “mourning, hunger and oppression”. He traces the dominant use of the color "brown" back to his childhood experiences when he often painted with wet sand and mud on the streets and walls of houses in his home village, as well as visiting mountain caves in the surrounding mountains with old murals , mostly made in brown . These historical wall paintings impressed him as a child. Khalil mainly paints on canvas, sometimes on wood. He mixes his colors himself, mainly using natural colors based on clay, olive oil, egg white or tree resin, mixed with color pigments.

As a mosaic artist, Khalil restored historical exhibits and reassembled mosaics for the National Museum in Damascus. He was also involved in the restoration of one of the "largest mosaics in the world" with an area of ​​600 square meters in the Syrian city of Hama . At the end of the 2000s, he reconstructed and restored several large-scale wall mosaics by the artist Georg Schmidt-Westerstede (1921–1982) in his then home town of Westerstede . For example, from 2009 to 2010 he reconstructed the glass mosaic “Horses” created by Schmidt-Westerstede in 1965, which was located on the outer wall of an apartment building in Westerstede and which was completely destroyed in 2008 during renovation work. After protests from the population, the responsible housing company commissioned the local “mosaic expert” Khalil with the faithful restoration of the two by six meter work of art, in which Khalil then processed around 25,000 remaining glass stones based on photos and replaced around 1,500 lost ones. Ultimately, the reconstructed glass mosaic was installed in a new location, a gable wall of the Westersted district court , and inaugurated there in August 2010.

In his new pictures he dedicates himself to the topic of “music” as a “connecting element between the cultures of the world”. Music is the language of the people, says Khalil; everyone has their music, and despite the multitude of forms and types of music, it is understandable for everyone and does not need an interpreter.

Exhibitions (selection)

Rodi Khalil with two pictures from his series "Music - Language of the World" (2012)

Solo exhibitions

  • 1990: Damascus, Syria
  • 1995: Kiev, Ukraine
  • 1996: Beirut, Lebanon
  • 1998: Kuwait, Kuwait
  • 2004: Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Oldenburg (Oldenburg), Lower Saxony / Germany
  • 2005: Wustrow-Neritz (Wendland), Lower Saxony
  • 2005: Rotterdam, Netherlands
  • 2007: Kurdish Museum in London, England (curator: Jawad Malla)
  • 2007: Westerstede, Lower Saxony
  • 2007: Oldenburg (Oldenburg), Lower Saxony
  • 2008: Hamburg, Germany
  • 2008: TGC Basın Müzesi Sanat Galerisi ( TGC Press Museum Art Gallery ) in Istanbul, Turkey
  • 2009: La vuelta del arte in Castellon, Spain
  • 2009, 2010, 2011: Cultural country party in Wendland, Lower Saxony
  • 2010: Intercultural week in Wismar, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
  • 2010: Weserterrassen community center in Bremen
  • 2011: Rotterdam, Netherlands
  • 2011: Kulturzentrum Lagerhaus in Bremen
  • 2011: Westerstede, Lower Saxony
  • 2012: New Vahr community center in Bremen

Group exhibitions

  • 1999: London, England
  • 2000: Aleppo , Syria
  • 2001: Damascus, Syria
  • 2002: New York, USA
  • 2003: Ulm, Baden-Württemberg / Germany
  • 2007: Museum for Communication in Hamburg

Web links

Commons : Rodi Khalil  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Hilke S .: Search for freedom. Interview with the Syrian artist Rodi Khalil . In: Stadtmagazin Oldenburger Stachel , No. 246, issue 11/04, from November 2004; Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  2. ↑ a b Information on Rodi Khalil ( memento of the original from January 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On: Website of the artist online forum www.leoperacht.de; Retrieved January 10, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.leoperacht.de
  3. ^ Inge Born-Nauss: On the day of human rights . In: Geesthachter Anzeiger from December 14, 2005, p. 10.
  4. ^ A b (PS): Westerstede: Glass mosaic by Georg Schmidt-Westerstede. The resurrection of the horses . In: Monthly magazine Westersteder Bürger , August 2009 edition, p. 17; PDF file, 671.69 kB; Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  5. ↑ See flyer: Art and culture exhibition RHODO 2010. 15. – 24. May 2010. Westerstede. Artists from the Ammerland present their works at the 2010 Rhodoschau . Published by the City of Westerstede , 2010; PDF file, 481.76 kB; Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  6. ^ Wolfgang Struwe: Rodi Khalil. My pictures show elements from diverse cultures . In: Kurdistan Report No. 138, July / August 2008 edition, ISSN  0935-5375 ; Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  7. ↑ Kerstin Schumann: Rodi Khalil "puzzles" on glass mosaic for months. Restoration: work of art shines in new splendor . In: Nordwest-Zeitung (NWZ) of August 16, 2010, p. 6; PDF file, 1.46 MB; Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  8. ↑ (hun): The own goal was eliminated. Destroyed mosaic "Horses" shines in new splendor on the court facade . In: Hunte Report of August 15, 2010, p. A21; PDF file, 1.15 MB; Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  9. ↑ (eb): Music language of the world. Exhibition in the community center Neue Vahr. In: Weser Report of January 8, 2012, p. 7.
  10. ↑ TGC Basın Müzesi Sanat Galerisi Sezonu 1 Eylül'de Açıyor: Rodi Khalil - Resim Sergisi. September 8, 2008 - September 26, 2008 . In: Culture Blog Kültür - Sanat Dünyası from August 29, 2008; Turkish, accessed January 10, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Khalil, Rodi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Syrian artist of Kurdish ethnicity
DATE OF BIRTH October 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Tal Hedat near Damascus , Syria