Friday 14 / March / 2025
Muscat: Artist Abdul Qader has been painting for over 51 years and for him, it’s all about the art of war.
A decade after retiring from the Ministry of Defence, Qader has been anything but boring. Starting in 1965, he has created over 600 paintings, and not all of them are pretty.
“I like to paint war,” Qader said. “I like to paint houses and buildings on fire, girls crying and people running. It helps people feel what [those] people are going through.”
He points at a picture and says, “This is a regular road in the middle of the city. This tank shouldn’t be here (driving on the city street). People don’t like paintings of the dead, so I either have to set the vehicles on fire or show destruction to give it depth.”
**media[515787]**
One of his pieces seems to be a scenic view of the Alps, with tulips at the foot of the mountain, all behind a very thin steel barrier or gate.
“I painted this gate there to show that even though it is so beautiful, you cannot get to it. It is only there for us to see, not to touch or have. The other side is like a danger zone, not allowed.”
Born in Baluchistan in 1958, Qader began his painting career with water colours. It was merely a passion to begin with, nothing more and nothing less.
In 1974, his family moved to England where they settled for 10 years before making their way to Oman in 1981.
“We did a lot of travelling,” he said. “But an artist always adapts. Even when it comes to art, you are restricted by society on what to paint or not. But you adapt.
As a man of creativity and individuality, he is also known in the Wadi Kabir area for his music, singing and home-made speakers. He has a total of 13 amplifiers and hundreds of woofers lying around his house.
“I am an artist. Artists like to work on hard things,” he said.
