Zarah Hussain: Measuring Infinity
Geometric shapes from the ancient Persian Empire are a source of inspiration for Zarah Hussain's drawings, paintings and reliefs. Double Star Supernova, in Hopstreet's Window Project #8, is an example of this.
From her interest in the image of transcendence, the artist visited and examined the Adoration of the Lamb by the Van Eyck brother in Ghent. Parallel to the medieval mentality, Hussain interprets art as a way for mankind to try to reproduce the universal rules related to cosmic order. In the Western artistic tradition, a desire to understand one's visible reality fomented during the autumn of the Middle Ages. The proposed world became almost tangible with the assistance of light effects, shadow work and fabric suggestion. The visual model that organises the whole image is central perspective: a mathematical system with lines of sight that converge into one or more vanishing points. An affinity between the Western and Islamic traditions originates within this underlying rational abstraction.
Hussain creates visual formulas that express universality based on mathematical instructions with rotational and mirror symmetries. The lines and areas of colour on the regular polyhedrons have a direct, instinctive attractiveness. They stimulate the observer's empathy and encourage him or her to look for deeper meaning. This meaning can be spiritual or purely expressive. This undogmatic attitude typifies her open attitude towards other people's individual convictions. Building on the legacy of Islamic culture is, for her, a rich formula that she also encounters in artists such as William Morris, Paul Klee or Kasimir Malevich. In these oeuvres, a representation of the visible world doesn't play a compelling role; choreographies develop with primary, expressive elements. Hussain strives for perfect shapes with a meticulous finish.
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Geometric shapes from the ancient Persian Empire are a source of inspiration for Zarah Hussain's drawings, paintings and reliefs. Double Star Supernova, in Hopstreet's Window Project #8, is an example of this.
From her interest in the image of transcendence, the artist visited and examined the Adoration of the Lamb by the Van Eyck brother in Ghent. Parallel to the medieval mentality, Hussain interprets art as a way for mankind to try to reproduce the universal rules related to cosmic order. In the Western artistic tradition, a desire to understand one's visible reality fomented during the autumn of the Middle Ages. The proposed world became almost tangible with the assistance of light effects, shadow work and fabric suggestion. The visual model that organises the whole image is central perspective: a mathematical system with lines of sight that converge into one or more vanishing points. An affinity between the Western and Islamic traditions originates within this underlying rational abstraction.
Hussain creates visual formulas that express universality based on mathematical instructions with rotational and mirror symmetries. The lines and areas of colour on the regular polyhedrons have a direct, instinctive attractiveness. They stimulate the observer's empathy and encourage him or her to look for deeper meaning. This meaning can be spiritual or purely expressive. This undogmatic attitude typifies her open attitude towards other people's individual convictions. Building on the legacy of Islamic culture is, for her, a rich formula that she also encounters in artists such as William Morris, Paul Klee or Kasimir Malevich. In these oeuvres, a representation of the visible world doesn't play a compelling role; choreographies develop with primary, expressive elements. Hussain strives for perfect shapes with a meticulous finish.
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