In the 21st century, Arabic calligraphy is influencing a new generation of Middle Eastern and North African artists and designers. From furniture to graphic design, this exciting, new movement is full of possibilities. All educated people throughout the Arab world readily understand the classical Arabic used in writing. Modern Arabic, with occasional regional variations, is used by newspapers and broadcasting networks in all the Arab states.
Between the language of classical texts and the spoken word lies what has become known in the West as Modern Literary Arabic or MLA . MLA is the ideal medium for conveying advertising messages. Here in our milieu Arabic writing is understood principally as sacred text, but, if elsewhere in the Muslim worlds it is perceived beyond its classical form, as an aesthetic and literary idiom, then it is time to look at the script beyond the limiting parameters.
A recent exhibition at VM Gallery, Karachi, displayed graphic artworks where the working idiom was mainly script oriented.
The solo show belongs to Muzzamil Ruheel, a trained calligrapher and a qualified artist who has made imaginative use of both disciplines to convert script into pictorial imagery. His new works show how the artist has engaged and experimented with the Arabic script and adapted it to create works of art that not only address issues of profound importance but which are fascinating visuals in their own right.
Proficient in the traditional styles of Arabic calligraphy Ruheel follows the energy that naturally moves in the Arabic alphabet to construct shapes and form. But his sweeps and flourishes are a graphic interpretation of inner voices, overheard expressions, channel broadcasts, street graffiti or other fictitious renderings, composed to build visual mass rather than write legible text. Foregoing the exactness of readable calligraphic styles his intertwined writings reference the Arabic calligram as a point of departure.
The Arabic calligram is an important writing style form that became famous among calligraphers during Ottoman times. It was established as a separate art form by Mustafa Raqim Efendi (1758—1825) who was a painter before he studied calligraphy in Istanbul and, therefore, already had superior picturing skills. His works characterised themselves by extensive use of fragmentation and complex rearranging of phrases to assemble similar letters close to each other. The result was the calligram: a written text that is arranged in the form of a picture; often the image would be linked to the content of the text.
In this tradition of calligrams (figurative calligraphy) going back to the 17th century, the use the Arabic words was more to fill in the outline of a stylised picture, rather than playing on the shapes of individual letters or words. For Ruheel, image processing is done in tandem with text construction—whatever he conceives is formulated on paper through the calligraphic language. A contemporary artist, his concerns relate to current issues and he adapts images from media culture and art history. His artwork ‘Bombastic’ is, literally and conceptually, a cacophonous burst of voices so common to the media babble, blitz or hype we encounter daily. The ‘Camouflage’ piece can be interpreted at several levels, an innocent public duped with smoke screens, hoodwinked by cover-ups or simply acts of concealment. In ‘Holy cow’ we get to see the artists drawing ability and realise that he is fluent with the written word but does not bring the same agility and feeling to his linear contouring. His ‘Rustling tree’ artwork is also wooden in appearance and rendering—it lacks the graceful pliancy of his script writing.
Referring to the design element of art, Ruheel approaches his work more as a graphic artist than a painter. Releasing calligraphy from traditional methodologies, he is trying to take it forward purely as a striking graphic metaphor. It is noteworthy that in the physical transcription of the alphabet he does not resort to distortion, rather tries to retain the original rhythmic formations of the characters of the Arabic script. His love for the script is very evident and hopefully will continue to be so in his subsequent endeavours.
Acquiring his diploma in calligraphy from Gohar Arts Academy, Lahore, Ruheel went on to secure a BFA, in 2009, from School of Visual Arts, Beacon House National University. He has participated in several group shows at home and abroad. His most recent exhibitions include ‘Items of dual use’, ‘WipKonshtall’, Stockholm, Sweden 2011 and ‘Still exotic’, collaborative project with Mohamed Abdelkarim, ‘Cairo Documenta’, Egypt 2010. He has also been nominated for Sovereign Art Prize 2011, Hong Kong.