Islamic Patterns and Calligraphy

Our first group presentation was on Islamic Patterns and Calligraphy. Islamic art is essentially a contemplative art, which aims to express above all, an encounter with the Divine Presence. The origin of Islamic art has often tried to be explained through tracing it back to some precedent in Byzantine, Coptic or other art, yet what is lost sight of, is the intrinsic and original unity of Islamic art and thus the 'seal' that Islam conferred on all borrowed elements.
Islamic art is created by using different geometric patterns, which consisted of, or were generated from, such simple forms as the circle and the square, and they were combined, duplicated, interlaced, and arranged in intricate combinations. As a matter of fact, geometric ornamentation in Islamic art suggests a remarkable amount of freedom; in its repetition and complexity, it offers the possibility of infinite growth and can accommodate the incorporation of other types of ornamentation as well. Calligraphic ornamentation also appears in conjunction with geometric patterns. A sample piece of Islamic Art is below:



Calligraphy has been the most important medium of artistic expression in Islamic culture. This is due to it being the noblest of the visual arts in the world of Islam, for it is the writing of the Qur'an that is sacred art par excellence. It plays a part more or less analogous to that of the icon in Christian art, for it represents the visible body of the Divine word. Thus calligraphy itself was considered a major art - great calligraphers, who introduced new styles of forming the script, were more famous than great painters, and calligraphy was not only the affair of the craftsman, it was also practiced by many learned people and even by sultans. A calligraphy example is below:



ARTISTS:
Ali Omar Ermes is an international artist whose artwork is principally based on the Arabic letter forms. He paints on various sizes and some very large canvases (up to 5 metres long), in single or multiple colours applied with large brushes mainly on specially hand-made paper.

Ali Rouhfar was a calligraphy artist and he was taught by his grandfather, Sakkal Rouhfar. Ali started practice and received his first lessons of calligraphy from him. After his grandfather passed away, he almost stopped practicing calligraphy, but in the end he decided to continue.

Works of Art:

God is the Greatest - Where the Ocean meets the Dunes


This piece of art is an example of Islamic Art since it uses simple geometric patterns throughout the entire artwork.

Poesie by Kalaam - A lighted life size Calligraphy design that was created in the artists house.

Body Sculpture

We did our body sculpture by representing this Untilted piece by Keith Haring. We chose this piece of art since it represented showing emotion through music and dancing to us. We have six members of our group, so we did have to add another pose to it. All of us chose a particular color to wear and we all posed in a certain position. We also played the following music and video behind us to help represent what we thought the piece showed.