Culture

Pioneer calligrapher Abdallah Akar’s works hosted by Khawla Art Gallery

29 Jun 2024

O Narrow Time, a work in mixed media on canvas.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

Khawla Art Gallery, located in Dubai Design District (d3) is about to close (on June 30) its solo exhibition of the works of celebrated Tunisian artist Abdallah Akar titled ‘Poetic Ontology’. Consisting of a captivating array of contemporary Arabic calligraphy, the show takes viewers a profound journey through the ethos of existence. “We are delighted to present Abdallah Akar’s ‘Poetic Ontology’ at Khawla Art Gallery,” says Rayan Imad Hakki, General Manager, Khawla Art and Culture and Exhibition Curator at the gallery. “His mastery of Arabic calligraphy and his ability to infuse it with philosophical depth and emotional resonance, makes this exhibition a must-see for art enthusiasts and poetry lovers alike.”

‘Poetic Ontology’ weaves together the stirring verses of renowned Arab poets like Bader Shakker Al Sayyab, Mahmoud Darwish, Omar Khayyam and Nizar Qabbani. The artistic mastery of Akar makes the poetic gems transcend linguistic and cultural restrictions, and echo with universal truths and common human experience. Ontology is the study of existence. According to wikipedia, it investigates what types of entities exist, how they are grouped into categories, and how they are related to one another at the most fundamental level.

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At the core of the exhibition is the artist’s deep exploration of ontology. Through the medium of modern Arabic calligraphy, Akar also breathes fresh life into classical poetry, blurring the lines between the written word and visual art. His brush is a witness to the depth and richness of Arabic literature, celebrating its timeless relevance. Akar was born in Tunisia. He arrived in France in the late 1960s, to study Science at Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7. However, it was after meeting Iraqi calligrapher Ghani Alani in 1980, that his passion for calligraphy was cemented. In 1986, he had his first public exhibition of contemporary works. In subsequent years, he hosted numerous solo and group exhibitions, lectures and courses.

Akar has studied and trained in the art of calligraphy for over thirty years, and has taught at the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, since 1993. As a painter and calligrapher, he draws inspiration from both Arabic and Western poetry. During the early 2000s, he completed an installation which showcased 16 textiles richly decorated with calligraphy. It was a tribute to Pre-Islamic poetry. This was followed in 2007 by a publication of Poemes Suspendus (Muallaq’at), in both French and Arabic.

Abdallah Akar before one of his works.

“Long listening to the Masters of Calligraphy,” says Akar, “the elders and their heirs, the letter, the poem, sacred or profane, are at the centre of my work. The paper was obvious. Slowly, obscurely, I ventured towards new supports: textiles, wood, iron, glass. Without losing any of the roots of this art, I discovered unusual sensations in these journeys. These advances have been, I think, at the origin of know-how, of new dimensions of this art of sign which I am trying, modestly, to bring into the present time.”

“No images — nothing but poetic words placed on flat areas of colour where white, red and black dominate,” comments writer Catherine Rigollet. “Sometimes it’s just a few letters emerging from the colour. Abdallah Akar masters calligraphy, the supreme art of the Arab world … this calame (or calamus, the reed made into a point used for writing), cut from pieces of reed of different diameters and lengths, serves as a pen, a paintbrush and a brush at the same time. It allows the full and smooth strokes of letters, and also (provides for the) large flat areas of ink on the paper or canvas.”

The poems utilised in the calligraphical works reveal high romance, terrible mourning and hard realism, adding more heft to the creations. Here is a piece from ‘The Rain Song’ by Bader Shakker Al Sayyab: “Your eyes are two palm tree forests at early dawn/Or two verandas from which the moonlight recedes/When your eyes smile, the vines put forth their leaves/And the lights dance like moons in a river.”

Akar is one with the sorrows of ‘A Mother’s Heart’ by Abul-Qassim Al Chabbi: “O dear child, whose life was a charming melody/A pure white rose, wafting its fragrance at colourful sunsets!/O dear child, who so happily lived in this world;/Celebrating life’s beauty with your sweet songs./The dreams of death have now tenderly closed your eyelids,/A host of angels gathered ‘round your quiet deathbed;/Nymphs of glorious light carried your soul into heaven.” Palestinian poetic icon Mahmoud Darwish speaks thus from the gallery walls in his poem ‘In Jerusalem’: “In Jerusalem, and I mean within the ancient walls/I walk from one epoch to another without a memory to guide me.”

Akar is known for searching for a renewed rendition of the calligraphic language — including through the language of poetry — and exploring different mediums to do so. He shows his work extensively in Europe and is a familiar figure in the Middle Eastern contemporary art scene. Khawla Art Gallery was founded by poet, writer, calligraphy artist and art critic, Khawla Bint Ahmed Bin Khalifa Al Suwaidi. Rayan Imad Hakki, a native of Saudi Arabia raised in Beirut, Lebanon, holds a BA in Architecture from Academie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts University, Lebanon. Her appreciation for art and culture led her to pursue further education in Arts and Business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, along with participation in a master class with Christie’s online education.