ABDULRAHMAN NAANSEH: PRESSURE/MOVEMENT/EFFECT
/ABDULRAHMAN NAANSEH:
PRESSURE/ MOVEMENT/ EFFECT: NEW ARABIC CALLIGRAPHY
June 17 - August 6, 2022 @ Mason Exhibitions Arlington
August 22 - October 15, 2022 @ Gillespie Gallery
( قصة قصيرة أطالوها كثيراً ) / SHORT STORY THEY MADE TOO LONG (18”X24”, INK ON PAPER)
القصة تشبه إلى حدٍّ كبير صيد السمك ، لقد ابتلعنا الطعم و لكنهم يتسلّون بأرجحتنا في الهواء و يضحكون
أمّا نحن فلم نعد نريد إلّا أن نموت بهدوء في السلة
THE STORY IS A LOT LIKE FISHING
WE SWALLOWED THE BAIT BUT THEY WERE HAVING FUN WITH OUR SWINGING IN THE AIR AND LAUGHING. AS FOR US, WE ONLY WANTED TO DIE QUIETLY IN THE BASKET
About the Exhibition
Mason Exhibitions is honored to present Abdulrahman Naanseh: Pressure/Movement/Effect, a solo exhibition of the artist’s recent Arabic calligraphy on paper and canvas.
Naanseh’s calligraphy is a personal response to the tangled narratives of religion and politics that characterize life in his native Syria. Grounded in classical forms while evolving his own stylistic methods, Naanseh has developed a practice that incorporates research and readings of modern and ancient Arabic poetry, linguistic analysis of Arabic words and sounds, as well as direct experience of the social pressures engrained in religion and politics.
In the process of re-envisioning the calligraphic process, Naanseh has created his own calligraphic font, which he’s been evolving over the last five years. Although his works deploy words or phrases, not all of them can be simply “read.” Various elements can be literally translated, but the resulting forms exist in the interstitial space between the linguistic and the visual, between idea and image.
This exhibition highlights Naanseh’s recent work which focuses on three specific words - pressure, movement, and effect - and their expression in Arabic script. He chose these words for their poetic associations with the actions and intentions of calligraphic writing, and also because they align with the larger social and political struggles within Syria.
Pressure is force: a pen or brush to paper; it evokes mental, physical, and social constraint; it signals the act of pushing back against or away from. Movement is a path; a strategy; and a cadence that gives shape, substance, and emotional resonance to poetry, music, or storytelling; it is an expression of change and the organizing of a new political paradigm. Effect is the external impact, how things appear and how they change.
In each artwork or sequence of works, Naanseh starts with one of these three simple words and by repeating and altering their forms in a variety of styles, scales, layers, colors, and positions, he builds visual structures and motifs which compound and refract their potential readings. Like concrete poetry, the resulting images can be appreciated on multiple levels, as poetic formal abstractions and conceptually-driven commentary on the social circumstances of the artist’s native region.
INSTALLATION VIEWS
About the Artist
Portrait of the artist, Abdulrahman Naanseh
Syrian artist Abdulrahman Naanseh (b. 1991) learned Arabic calligraphy with the support of his father, a self-taught calligrapher. Naanseh has excelled in this field with exhibitions at the Arneli Art Gallery during the Beit Misk Festival in Beirut, murals at Damascus University, solo exhibitions in Syria in 2002 and 2005, and national Arabic calligraphy competitions.
Naanseh is an Artist Protection Fund Fellow and the 2022 Artist-in-Residence at George Mason University’s School of Art. The Artist Protection Fund (APF) fills a critical unmet need by awarding threatened artists and placing them at welcoming host institutions in safe countries where they can continue their work and plan for their futures. APF places these artists in safe havens for a full year and provides fellowship funding, mentoring, and inclusion in a comprehensive network of artistic and social support.
View more of Naanseh’s work on Instagram, @_naanseh.
Past Events
Calligraphy Workshops
We are currently scheduling calligraphy workshops for interested classes in the School of Art. The gallery will provide a sampling of calligraphic tools and materials for students to experiment. Abdulrahman Naanseh will be discussing his approach to calligraphy, drawing, and painting and leading demonstrations. Please email Jeffrey Kenney (jkenney5@gmu.edu) for scheduling information.
We encourage all that are curious to participate. The techniques, formal experimentation, and historical context that inform Naanseh's practice will be relevant to anyone interested in contemporary art and design practices.
Exhibit Bookshelf
About Mason Exhibitions
With galleries in Arlington, Fairfax, and Manassas, Mason Exhibitions offers a multi-venue forum for the presentation of contemporary visual artists who advance research, dialogue, and learning around global social issues.