For my further artistic practice I would like research the accelerating effect the implementation of digital technology and algorithms has on an individual.
For my further artistic practice I would like research the accelerating effect the implementation of digital technology and algorithms has on an individual.
Artworks and Processes
Artworks and Processes
Artworks and Processes
Artworks and Processes
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Ich bin ein Textabschnit. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten. Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten. Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt.
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Here is a heading
Ich bin ein Textabschnit. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten. Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten. Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt. Klicke hier, um deinen eigenen Text hinzuzufügen und mich zu bearbeiten.Ich bin ein Textabschnitt.
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Ibrahim El Salahi
Ibrahim El-Salahi, Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams I, 1961–5
​© Ibrahim Salahi
"There is no painting without drawing and there is no shape without line ... in the end all images can be reduced to lines.” – Ibrahim El Salahi
collision of dreams, past and present sudanese landscape aesthetic
concerns of society
geometric non human-figures
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Ibrahim El-Salahi, Flamenco Dancers, 2011
​© Ibrahim Salahi
Ibrahim El-Salahi is a Sudanese painter is considered as part of African Modernism and the Hurufiyya art movement, that combined traditional forms of Islamic calligraphy with contemporary artworks.
He created a connection between is his works and the viewer as he started to use small Arabic inscriptions in the corners of his paintings, then spread them over the whole canvas and finally started to break down the letters and words to build human forms out of them.
El-Salahi was fascinated by the visual spaces in Arabic calligraphy and eager to capture the fleeting, and often dramatic, moments when memory and dreams, past and present, collide. (Greenberg, Tate, 2021)
About the making of his paintings he said: “Images just came, as though I was doing it with a spirit I didn't know I had." His colour selection reflects the landscape of Sudan. Most of his work is about lines as “there is no painting without drawing and there is no shape without line ... in the end all images can be reduced to lines." (Hassan, 2013)
In his words, he seeks to ‘register and describe what I perceive through the senses while remaining tightly bound to an elusive, indecipherable, metaphysical essence’ (El-Salahi, ‘The Artist in His Own Words’, in Hassan 2013, p.89)
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Key Takeaways
Why is it relevant to me?
I think his characters have a very futuristic vibe that fascinates me. They almost look like they have been cut out and merge into one another. The humans turn into geometric non human-figures. This cohesive effect parallels my approach of connecting figures and shapes and blending two worlds.
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What are my key take aways?
Especially with these connected forms, it seems all the more important to create a strong light-dark contrast. I think it's precisely because the color palette is so reduced that the eye can adjust so well to the different shapes and curves. He uses color to create contrast and gives the environment a calm and muted uniform color. It's like setting a focus while the surroundings remain vaguely indicated.
In my previous works I have placed many color nuances next to each other, mostly from different color families, leaving little free space for the eye. As a result, my works have become visually very challenging. I therefore admire the ease with which the viewer can grasp these complex, unfamiliar forms in El-Salahis works. The complex remains interesting, catches and holds the eye.
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How will I implement it?
I also want to try to leave more free/empty space in my composition. To do this, I would like to build in more quiet areas and divide my canvas into individual larger shapes in which I then group my color nuances so as not to confuse the eye and give it resting points or a superordinate structure in my painting.
References
Greenberg, K (2021) Tate: Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams I. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/el-salahi-reborn-sounds-of-childhood-dreams-i-t13979 (Accessed:18 Oct 2021)
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Hassan, Salah M. (2013). Ibrahim El-Salahi : a visionary modernist. Tate
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