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Infinite Present

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Infinite Present INFINITE PRESENT 34850 Cambridge Arts.indd 3 6/6/18 2:51 PM ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I send my heartfelt thanks to the following people for supporting me on this project: Shehab Awad, Afia H. Bin Taleb, Susan Cohen, Alexander Heller, Professor Eva Hoffman, Meagan Kelly Horsman, Lillian Hsu, Janice Kitchen, Elizabeth Laub-Zick, Anne-Claire Legendre, Michael McCahill, Julia Occhiogrosso, Professor Stephen Ortega, Professor Nasser Rabbat, Janet Rady, Belinda Rathbone, Jung Lee Sanders, Andrew Shea, Rachel Strutt, Sundaram Tagore, Howard Yezerski, Jason Weeks, James A. Welu, Linda Woolford, and Hilary Zelson. I especially want to thank all of the artists who participated for their inspiring work. on the cover: NASSER AL ASWADI, NOSTALGIE (detail) opposite: WALID SITI, BIRTH OF A NEW MOUNTAIN (detail) 34850 Cambridge Arts.indd 4 6/6/18 2:51 PM REVELATIONS FROM ISLAMIC DESIGN IN CONTEMPORARY ART INFINITE PRESENT CURATED BY MARIE COSTELLO September 17 - November 30, 2018 CAMBRIDGE GALLERY 344 34850 Cambridge Arts.indd 5 6/6/18 2:51 PM 34850 Cambridge Arts.indd 6 6/6/18 2:51 PM Revelations from Islamic Design in Contemporary Art s a student of western medieval art in graduate developed to embellish the word with intricate design elements school, I was introduced to monuments of Islamic that become decorative forms in all media. art throughout the Middle East, North Africa and Spain focusing on architectural elements such Legibility is not always important for calligraphic inscriptions as pointed and horseshoe arches or decorative in traditional settings, and certainly the location and interlacing Apatterns that carried over into Romanesque and Gothic art. of some of these texts do not make it easy. The use of interlace Working as a curator of contemporary art, I became aware of a in calligraphy can obscure the literal message and enhance the number of artists that incorporate motifs from Islamic art into sacred message. The word as image, however, is expressive their work, a testament to the resilience of the forms through politically, religiously and aesthetically. Arabic writing is highly time to reveal new meanings. This exhibition brings together aesthetic and lends itself to the creation of patterns of light some of these artists to both celebrate their work and look at and dark, complicated puzzles and symmetrical compositions. the connections to the past that inform their work. The artists Throughout history, the innovations of these designs have been and art works were chosen for their relationship to the geometry admired by diverse societies. Movable objects with fine calligra- and calligraphy of Islamic design and the transformation of past phy became part of a luxury trade of gifts between rulers. The meanings through the artistic practice. By combining traditions high regard for the expertise and design elements of Islamic of the past in calligraphy, architecture and ceramics with cut- goods by elite Christians during the Middle Ages is validated by ting-edge concepts, these artists foreground the complexity and the presence of textiles, carved ivory or rock crystal containers endless variations of these motifs. The edge between the literal and metalwork with Arabic inscriptions in church treasuries, and abstract, the concrete and mystical are blurred to create at often re-purposed for sacred functions, such as holding relics times meditative, and at times politically-charged works. Not or the Eucharist.2 Today, responses to this calligraphy may vary only do these artists carve out a new territory in abstraction, but according to experience and point of view. they challenge preconceived ideas about these motifs. In these artworks, geometric patterns and calligraphy change through The artists in this exhibition reveal that calligraphy remains a contemporary contexts, yet are infinitely present. For the viewer, powerful element that draws us in to interpret meanings and de- they resonate historically, but are also tied to themes of decon- light the eye. In the painting by Rashid Koraïchi, La Memoire de struction, geopolitics and aesthetics in today’s world. la Sage, the artist has created a bold figure on a patterned field by combining elements from different languages, thereby laying Calligraphy became a major form of decoration in both secular cultural associations that yield a universal meaning. From a and non-secular art throughout Islamic culture that led to vast Sufi heritage, he references Sufi verses that, in accordance with variations and exquisite refinement in the design of monuments Sufi philosophy, “negotiate aesthetics with revelation.” Also and everyday items. Judaic and Christian traditions had both interested in the monumentality of the letter, Hassan Massoudy expressed anxiety about depicting God in a figural way due to draws from global literature excerpting a specific word and, with fears of idolatry and the problem of portraying the perfection flowing brushwork and color, heightens its meaning. In Beauty, of God. For Islam, the word of God as revealed through the text is taken from Machrab, the 18th century Uzbek poet. Mohammad became the true representation of God,1 and was Looking to upend the traditional execution of Islamic writing, later transcribed to become the Qur’an. Calligraphy was he studied Japanese calligraphy, which added a new elegance 1 Erica Cruikshank Dodd, “The Image of the Word” in Late Antique and Medieval Art of the Mediterranean ed. Eva Hoffman (New York, 2007) 194 2 Jerrilynn D. Dodds, “Islam, Christianity and the Problem of Religious Art” in Late Antique and Medieval Art of the Mediterranean World ed. Eva Hoffman (New York, 2007) 350-366 opposite: DANA AWARTANI, OCTAHEDRON WITHIN A CUBE FROM THE PLATONIC SOLID DUALS SERIES (detail) 34850 Cambridge Arts.indd 7 6/6/18 2:51 PM and speed to his brushwork. The drawing in this exhibition is by artists who intentionally marginalized these women for their from a series intended to bring the world together through love, own pleasure. using texts from East and West. In a lithograph from his Red Series, we see how Nja Mahdaoui stresses the visual impact of Geometric patterns are also a major motif in Islamic art, his compositions, which he refers to as ‘calligrams’ or ‘graph- and geometry underlies other aspects of the culture as well. emes.’ The perfect balance of color and form is striking. The The city of Baghdad founded by Al-Mansur, of the Abbasid calligraphic form to the right suggests the end of a verse in an Caliphate, founded in 762 AD, was designed as a perfect circle 5 elegant Qur’an, but here is viewed as a purely aesthetic form. with a 2,000 meter diameter. Standardization of calligraphy Combining geometry and calligraphy, Kamal Boullata’s work in the 10th century by Ibn Muqla centered on geometry and emphasizes the purity of line. The word “Allah” is designed proportion. The first letter of the alphabet, the alif, became the within a square unit and repeated in alternating colors, resem- standard of measure, and the shape of each letter was deter- 6 bling patterned light. In an interview with Alexander Baraka, mined by a circle (with the a diameter of the alif). The study Boullata notes that he sees himself as “a writer of images, of geometry was generated by the translation of Greek and whereby the Arabic words assume the body of an icon, whose Sanskrit documents into Arabic starting in the 8th century, aesthetic components reflect a contemporary language of and although there is no textual evidence for its symbolic use abstract expressionism.”3 in various settings, geometry was a key component in building practices and surface design. There are manuals using forms Other artists blur calligraphy further, allowing the viewer of geometry that builders used for constructing domes, arches, access to a purely abstract visual language, but rich with ribs, muqarnas and two-dimensional patterns. resonances to the act of writing. In Nasser Al Aswadi’s canvas, letters are painted and stacked separately, tangled and “lost What brought about the widespread use of geometric pattern- in the imaginary space of the painting.”4 The overall effect is ing? Necipoğlu notes that a strong interest in mathematics, the of a fragment from the cosmic universe. Pouran Jinchi, who asceticism of the the Sunni revival and Abbasid consolidation trained in calligraphy, but also in mathematics and abstract in the 10th and 11th centuries, inspired the girih system, con- painting, starts with a poem. She then distorts the characters necting its spread to political, cultural and religious contexts.7 and arranges them in non-linear ways that create riveting Girih is Persian for “knot,” and is a geometric system begin- compositions, alive with movement. Golnaz Fathi studied tradi- ning with a circle that generates patterns of stars and polygons tional Islamic calligraphy for six years, but breaks away from limitlessly.8 The more orthodox theological concepts that were that tradition by using ball point pen rather than brush and developing at the time may have created a reaction against the ink, layering intricate lines to form compositions that pair the Umayyad decorative programs that were more representation- resulting form with the silence of blank space. The photographs al and based on Late Antique models (crowns, jewels, vases of Lalla Essaydi employ calligraphy in a very different way. and architecture). Geometry provided a purer basis for design. By inscribing women’s bodies with calligraphic texts in henna, The historian, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406), considered
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