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Light, language and leather are the focus of a new art exhibition centred on the works of a prominent Moroccan artist, now open and attracting art lovers from across the kingdom.
For 51-year-old Moroccan artist Fattah Bellali, art is just as much about archaeology as aesthetics.
He explores this in his newest exhibition ‘Lights from Morocco to Bahrain’, on display for the next two weeks at the Colours of the East gallery at the Mall of Dilmunia.
“Light is a major theme throughout these pieces, each of which was born after years of research and some which took as many as three years to complete,” Fattah told GulfWeekly in fluid Arabic and French, with translations provided by his wife Alma Mosawi.
“Quite a few of these pieces evaluate the value of moon-and sun light in our lives, each interlaced with inscriptions in cuneiform, Proto-Sinaitic and Phoenician alphabet, reflecting how such concepts were perceived throughout our history.”
Fattah, originally from Marrakech, drew inspiration from his home city renowned for its historic civilisation and art, as he continues to seek a middle ground between scientific research and creativity.
He studied ancient languages, including hieroglyphics, cuneiform, Proto-Sinaitic, Phoenician alphabets, as well as their relatively modern descendants Arabic, Greek and Latin.
Each of his works has an inscription, either original or history-inspired, in one or more of these languages, discussing the historic context of the art piece.
The mixed-media pieces themselves are comprised of materials generally associated with years past, including leather, twine, stone and string.
“All the materials used here are natural, from the ink to the leather and even the argan oil used to treat the leather, but these materials take a lot more effort and careful attention to work with than canvas or acrylics,” Alma added.
“My husband’s process usually starts with a specific material that he wants to work with, and then he spends a long time studying and preparing the material with the best possible natural ingredients.
“This can take up to three years, depending on the material, and along the way, he finds the inspiration for the message he wants a specific piece to convey.”
Each piece, therefore, is not just the sum of up to three years of material preparation and technical artistic skill, it is also a product of a similar length of thought and its evolution in that period.
Before Fattah started working on the pieces, he ventured out into the desert on several expeditions, observing rock engravings to note the prehistoric origins of language and communication.
This sparked the self-titled ‘creative researcher’s’ love affair with regional linguistics, as he moved along his journey of combining arts, philosophy and the sciences.
The result was a collection of more than 30 pieces that are a testament to the evolution of writing and the growing complexity of human communication skills.
The exhibition was inaugurated on Sunday under the patronage of National Arts Council chairman Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, who was particularly riveted by Fattah’s use of leather in his artwork.
“Mr Bellali has encompassed a wide spectrum of mediums and canvases in this exhibition, and each piece is unique and thought-provoking,” Shaikh Rashid told GulfWeekly at the inauguration.
“Having an artist of his stature in Bahrain exhibit his works here not only inspires future generations of local artists to learn from his thought process, but also highlights our current art scene, enabling an amazing cultural exchange.”
Follow @fattah_bellali and coebahrain on Instagram for more details.
