Feet. All images courtesy of the artist
This article contains adult content. It seemed that Rizvan Rahman’s career in the art world was over forever after he was convicted of selling forged paintings and served five months of an 18-month prison sentence. But now, Rahman’s making a new name for himself as a law-abiding participant in the art community—as an artist in his own right."I would hope that there are people within the art world who are forward thinking and will judge me on the work rather than pre-judging my work based on my history,” Rahman tells The Creators Project. "If they can view my work in a democratic manner and certainly with a critical eye then that is all that I can ask for. The art will either speak for itself or it won’t – and that’s what it comes down to."
And the works in his new exhibition, Point of Departure, do speak for themselves. Much of his work tackles one of Western painting's most classic subjects, the female nude. "It's not a question of bringing something new simply for its own sake, too many people place importance on having to do something new in order to simply be different,” he writes.The women he depicts are often Rubenesque, and Rahman spares no detail of the swirling colors and textures of human flesh. The color palette he finds just at the bottom of outstretched feet is itself mesmerizing. "My concerns are more centred around projecting a truth that the viewer can relate to,” he writes. “Something that is palpable and perhaps engages you in a manner in which you may have not experienced before."
To learn more about Rizvan Rahman's work, click here.Related:What Happens When You're Naked in a Room Full of Artists?Gritty Plus-Sized Nudes Fight Body Image PrejudicesArtist Shatters Pirelli's Ideals of Beauty With Her Own Nude Calendar
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