Memories of a splashed reality; The work of Eagan Badeeu from the Maldives
“Love life and be happy… Follow your own path”
This could be the beginning of another text. From another blog piece that you find on the net as you browse, aware that you have a work to do and that is there: a lonely canvas that looks at you, a blank page that awaits you, something that your heart calls you to fulfill, but simply, the muses don’t show up.
But if I can confess something to you, this should not always be unnatural; because we all go through it, in our studies, at work, in our emotional life.
Even if we then use it to portray a piece of reality, we must not forget where we come from, why we do it, where we are going.
This is the philosophy that surrounds the work of Eagan Mohamed Badeeu, a painter born in 1973 in the deepest part of Malé’s heart, the capital city of the Maldives with just over 100,000 inhabitants, located on Kaafu Atoll.
In his own words, what is now the most populated city in the Maldives used to be very quiet and peaceful. A coastal atmosphere, bicycle races, day-long games with other children from the neighborhood are some of the activities that shaped Eagan's character and personality in his years of innocence.
As he grew older, interests and hobbies took form. Swimming was one of the things this painter and illustrator most enjoyed, a product of living on a paradise island in the Indian Ocean.
Not in vain, he also left time to influence his style by punk music and some bursts, experiences that, almost at the same time, were determining for the development of an artistic vein that he had innate.
Because the young Eagan used to caress his right hemisphere with the impressionist works of Claude Monet or Paul Cézanne, who would look as examples in a search, sometimes uncertain, even extended to the present day, of a realistic precision that would in turn take the essence of a brushstroke full of details, with a solitary value that unites and creates works with purity, that capture the reality of life in Malé.
Title: Second Reef (Courtesy; Egan Badeeu)
Title: Banana Flower (Courtesy; Egan Badeeu)
The artist's duty is disrupted by the context in which he lives, as some may say. Eagan follows this concept, growing up and living most of his life in an economy based on fishing, tourism, agriculture; coasts, sand, seascapes, long colored dresses, suntanned faces.
These influences, the free and creative spirit that always contained Eagan's actions, the saturation in color and gestalt brushstrokes, took his work to the Esjehi Art Gallery (Malé), as part of the "Funoas" exhibition (2000), where the subject was the Southwest Monsoon season that hits the Indian subcontinent every year.
From there, Eagan Badeeu's career can be summed up in a variety of recognitions, involvement in major events and galleries both in the Maldives and abroad, commissioned works for luxury resorts, independent work and much, much perseverance to perfect his vision.
According to this creative soul, a day that he doesn’t paint is a day that he’s not alive.
Proving that his talent is self-trained but especially influenced at the same time, Eagan has contributed with pieces and murals to the Rangali Maldives Conrad Island Tourist Complex, also adorning the interiors of other buildings, airports and resorts, including commissions from Singapore.
But the real artistic leap came in 2008 and 2009 with his participation in two events: 13th Asian Art Biennale held in Dhaka, Bangladesh (second time he presented his work there) and a solo exhibition entitled "Theyo Kulain Dhivehi Raaje", held at the National Art Gallery of Maldives.
Title: Batheli (Courtesy; Egan Badeeu). One of Eagan's works that was exhibited at the 13th Bangladesh Biennale
With his characteristic oil colors, pure pigments, Eagan made a name for himself in the circle of artists, curators, and gallerists in Asia and the Middle East.
"My paintings are a reflection of my experience; something that I have come across. It's realistic so far", he has confessed.
Taking his memories, his visions and past experiences, have been the main subject he touches in his paintings, even illustrating "Boduberu: a culture" (2009), a book by N.M. Manik that introduces the reader completely in a visual tour about Boduberu, the traditional music of the Maldives.
This African origin genre consists of a group composed of a voice, with drums and other percussions, which are made of a particular material: hollowed coconut wood. The melody is constructed until it reaches a crescendo that causes people to dance and follow the rhythm, in addition to singing.
Title: Boduberu (Courtesy; Egan Badeeu)
Eagan grew up, like the typical Maldivian, listening to this popular and entertaining music genre, which shows that his artistic personality is much contrasted between the tradition of his land, his particular interests, his emotions and the disappointments he has naturally come to feel.
This is because the artist also lives from frustrations.
As his own boss, in a way, Eagan must live with the stress of a dedication, but beyond something aesthetically beautiful, he also lives with the reflection of his reality in the paintings.
A contact he maintains every time he lifts his brush, after many hours of studying nature in Malé, daily life, his own perspective on the environment that always surrounded him and how he faced these changes.
Even when he has several commissions at the same time and a solo exhibition of 11 pieces that he must coordinate and prepare with the aim of filling himself with good sensations, with the aim of showing the world how he immortalizes it, through vivid oil details, Eagan always remembers where he has been, where he is and how he arrived, so as not to lose his head.
The artist, as he rightly says at the beginning of this article, must follow his own path, live in peace and with love for what he finally, actually, does.
Eagan in his studio, working on a painting (2019)
Contact Eagan Badeeu through Facebook or his web portfolio: