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Untitled
1
Using symbols interspersed with bright colors, Fakhir Mohammed paints beautifully harmonic pieces that have an almost audible rhythm. In “Untitled”, patterns and shapes seem to move energetically around the canvas while highlights of color pop-out from corner to corner.
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Untitled
2
Strokes of colors and lines come to together into forms creating an energy and movement in Naima Shishini’s paintings. Seen throughout her career, the expressive lines are almost calligraphic with a language of their own. The “Untitled” painting has an ephemeral and harmonious rhythm complimented with serene colors.
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Violins & Brushes
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ARMAN was a French-born American artist known for his unique style of found-object sculpture and paintings. In his sculpture, he works with "accumulations" and destruction/ re-composition of objects while in his two dimensional pieces, he uses the imprints or traces of objects covered in ink to form the painting itself. The silk screen print “Violins and Brushes” is a classic example ARMAN’s work using his recurring image of the violin. It was created around the same time as his gigantic monument “Hope for Peace” at the Ministry of National Defense in Yarze, Lebanon.
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Untitled
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Khalid Khreis’s abstract work is expressionist in nature allowing the audience a wide margin of interpretation. He states that it is “the result of feelings, reactions and accumulations of knowledge - both visual and intellectual - from my environment, travels, readings and everyday life.” In the watercolor piece “Untitled,” the gestural black lines swirl, lengthen and bleed with dots of yellow against a white background.
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Untitled
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Known for her abstract pieces, Ghada Dahdaleh, works in mixed media and monographs. Carefully weaving the mediums together to create patterns and textures, the visual elements generally include angular square-like shapes. In “Untitled,” the form of a large square takes over the canvas and frames broad organic brushstrokes
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Fish Migration
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With textured material that imitates water, the mixed media work “Fish Migration” is a unique piece in the collection. Used frequently in both biblical narratives or as a depiction of daily life, the fish has many symbols such as prosperity, success, creativity and rebirth.
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Position Delay
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A forerunner of contemporary abstraction in the Arab world, Samia Halaby (Jerusalem, 1936) is a leading abstract painter and a prominent scholar. After receiving her Masters in Painting from Indiana University, she studied geometric abstraction in Islamic architecture around the Eastern Mediterranean. She is inspired by the concept of abstraction - the notion of reality being represented through form, as well as the various art abstraction movements. In the silkscreen work “Position Delay”, the title alludes to a possible problem being solved or philosophical question that the artist is asking herself which is left to the interpretation of the viewer.
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Third Quartet, Opus 3
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Early in his career, Kamal Boullata developed a distinct style that embedded Arabic words and letters into colorful geometric designs that evoke his childhood in Jerusalem as well as his early training under the iconic painter Khalil Halabi. Referencing musical compositions, the lithograph “Third Quartet, Opus3" displays a bright patterning commonly found in his work and is part of a series with another work in the collection “Second Quartet, Opus3”.
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Second Quartet, Opus 3
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Early in his career, Kamal Boullata developed a distinct style that embedded Arabic words and letters into colorful geometric designs that evoke his childhood in Jerusalem as well as his early training under the iconic painter Khalil Halabi. Referencing musical compositions, the lithograph “Second Quartet, Opus3” displays a bright patterning commonly found in his work and is part of a series with another work in the collection “Third Quartet, Opus3”.
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Untitled
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Using textile and printing techniques in her work, Suheir Osman is known for the art of Batik. This process, as seen in “Untitled”, starts with the ancient craft of cloth making, then proceeds to the batik the dyeing process where wax is used create places or shapes where the dye cannot reach. Afterwards, she creates a template that will print the geometric design. Inspired by ancient Egyptian, Coptic or Islamic civilizations, she creates contemporary motifs, repeating shapes through varied compositions, emulating ideas of the infinite or building on the past to reach the future.
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Untitled
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Starting in the mid-90s, Adnan Sharif was experimenting with different shapes and sizes of canvas, similar to the triangular top of “Untitled.” As a well-respected artist, "His paintings became famous after the mid-1970s in Beirut and Germany through the subject of Palestinian exile… When he arrived to Amman in the early nineties, his work had an expressive mix between jazz and color with a poetic uniqueness in abstract configurations and contributed to the enrichment of the artistic community” said artist Khalid Khreis.
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L’homme qui marche
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During his studies and travels, artist Moussa Tiba experimented with a variety of subject matter and mediums. His work progressed thru different periods and forms of abstraction, “L’homme qui marche” with its minimalist broad strokes, is characteristic of his latter period, similar to work found in the collections of the British Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
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Untitled
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Inspired by Islamic heritage with a nod to modernity, Enaya Bukhari’s silk screen print “Untitled” is almost monochromatically yellow with small touches of red. The geometric or cellular-like shapes and bold colors create a patterned composition that incorporates organic and botanical components poetically woven throughout the work.
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Two dancers راقصتان
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Working with abstracted figures in color fields, Karam Matouk has a nuanced way of painting with colors and textures. In “Two Dancers”, the light and shadow falls gracefully on the figures melting them together with the background. The areas of color evoke features and forms skillfully mastered.
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Untitled
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Painting with ochre and other earthy colors, Nazir Ismail combined expressionism and surrealism to describe his emotions, giving his work a psychological depth. Depicting the cultural, social, and political atmosphere around him, much of his work deals with the feelings of defeat, losses, confusion and bitterness.
Typical of his work, “Untitled” has clusters of shapes in his compositions, drawing the viewer to examine the surface as a whole and absorb the plethora of lines and textures.
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Untitled (still life)
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Inspired from her ancestral roots in Southern Lebanon, the Arab revolutions and women rights, Soha Sabbagh feels that her work both reflects a part of broader society while expressing her own emotions. While this pastel work is of a traditional vase with flowers, it has a unique frenetic energy in the strokes creating movement in a “still life.”
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Untitled
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The Lebanese artist Youssef Ghazzawi references the idea of home in his works using the simple symbol of a house. In this abstract pastel on paper, some might see the triangular roof and square body of the house, dissected and tumbling in a dark cloud. Hence, the feeling of “home” is destroyed, dark and shaken to pieces. Over the years, the artist lost his home three times to Israeli bombings.
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Untitled (apples)
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“Experimenting with various techniques and media, I try to escape from monotony,” says Syrian artist Fadi Yazigi (1966). Living in Damascus, he works to interpret the world around him and capture people’s emotions. In “Untitled,” he uses bright colors on a newspaper background to cheerfully depict the everyday apple.
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Untitled
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Using symbols interspersed with bright colors, Fakhir Mohammed paints beautifully harmonic pieces that have an almost audible rhythm. In “Untitled”, patterns and shapes seem to move energetically around the canvas while highlights of color pop-out from corner to corner.
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There is only One Me
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Taher Jaoui’s abstract works contain symbols, forms and patterns, layering one over another to create rich assemblages that capture the intense energy put into each piece. While one can see the almost mathematical problems being figured out in the form of equations, the emotional aspect of the work overrides anything that could be seen as rational. According to the artist, the balancing act that takes place is subconscious, dynamic and fast leading to his expressive brushwork, bright colors, and varied textures. “There is only One Me” is a poignant example of his work where all the elements of his oeuvre come together in a single composition expressing his inner thoughts.
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Walking on the Tight Rope
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Taher Jaoui’s abstract works contain symbols, forms and patterns, layering one over another to create rich assemblages that capture the intense energy put into each piece. While one can see the almost mathematical problems being figured out in the form of equations, the emotional aspect of the work overrides anything that could be seen as rational. According to the artist, the balancing act that takes place is subconscious, dynamic and fast leading to his expressive brushwork, bright colors, and varied textures. “Walking on the Tight Rope” is a vibrant and engaging work that illuminates the artist’s process in every layer.
