Ahmed Moustafa: Portrait of a painter

Y.I: Does the Arabic reader have a different perception and understanding of your painting than the non-Arabic reader?

This was not a matter of Egypt it occurred in many developing countries. Especially in the Islamic world where art students were influence by modernism, cubism and different schools of art and modernity. When I came to England to study for my higher degree as a painter. I had finished my degree and was about to return to Egypt and just by pure coincidence, I came across an article about the proportions of Arabic script by Ibn  Muqla the Abbasid Wazir,  who actually was the reason behind the transition of the linear Kufic rigid   Arabic script to its cursive state which we use today. After that, I was engaged in some research, which took me to another MA and PHD initially, St Martin’s College of Art, Design, and the first PHD awarded by that College. Was done there in conjunction with the British Museum. I came to realize that the Muslim scholars from more than 1,000 years ago came across a most sophisticated system by which they were able to actually give the 28 Arabic characters an exact proportion to each other on due measures and proportion so that in the process of writing itself mirrors the exact creation of man himself. They recognized a measuring unit called dot. That dot measures the surface area of the first letter, then all the other letters have to be aligned in proportion to Alif (the initial letter).

So after encountering this level of sophistication , I felt this was by far the most elevated way to express oneself in an absolute field , but at the same time in itself  it is with the signs and rich vocabulary it contains an additional meaning in the audio and visual level. The art is very visual in my paintings but knowledge of Arabic is not a prerequisite to appreciating it.

Y.I: Does the Arabic reader have a different perception and understanding of your painting than the non-Arabic reader?

A.M: From the reactions I get, I can tell you that the person who does not read Arabic actually achieves a clearer appreciation of the painting rather than the Arabic reader who tries to decipher and search for different meanings. What I am trying to communicate is the visual message. However, the visual message itself is inscribed by the actual content of the scriptoral pattern. Those who try to decipher the text itself miss totally the visual message in the work and miss the meaning. The Arab person has a different dimension of understanding what Arabic symbols are about rather than a European visiting ancient buildings in Arab countries. However, the uninitiated eye might absorb more from what it sees than someone from an Arabic culture. The universal eye or ear, which is enlightened, can appreciate the nature of true art. You do not have to be a musicologist to appreciate great music. The law of harmony   is an intrinsic part of the appreciation of art by the human brain. The audio and the visual are governed by the same law.
Y.I: What reaction to your work are you getting from the Arabic World?

A.M: This can take different forms; it can be religious or purely abstract, or emotional or national. The strange thing is that I am not catering for either of these reactions on their own. I try to cater for the universal quality of the human being. It does not matter if the person is from Singapore, China, or the Middle East. I believe we have a lot in common as human beings. We all emanate from one archetypal father.

Y.I: Have you ever visited or exhibited in Morocco?

A.M: I have not   exhibited in Morocco but it is very amazing place and I have visited Marrakech, Mohammedia, Rabat,  and Fez in particular. This was twenty years ago and I was just like any tourist. However, I have many Moroccan friends and I would love some day to go back and to visit Marrakech in particular

Y.I: What is behind your painting “The Olive Tree that is neither of the East or the West?

A.M: I select the titles of my work very carefully as I consider it to be an additional key to guide the viewer and this particular composition is based on the sura Noor talking about God being the light of Heaven and Earth and goes on talk about the Olive Tree neither of the East nor the West and I found this striking. We are all trying to find our orientation and to affiliate ourselves with the East or the West. There are attempts to fragment this but there is an oneness and a truth about cosmic reality, East and West exist, but they belong to one reality. That is what I am trying to express in this painting.

Y.I: Have you seen the exhibition “Sacred “in the British Library by the Moroccan British Society in London which compares Holy Scripts from the Bible, Torah, and the Koran?

A.M: Yes, I am pleased you mentioned this as it is very much linked to what I am trying to communicate with my paintings. The moment we recognize the oneness from that point of emanation of everything sacred we cannot be hostile to one another. That is why in the Koran it speaks about the people of the previous revelations come to a common ground that we worship one God. This divine advice is healing and I aim to make my work express this healing power. All great works of civilization are about healing. Unfortunately, modern art has deviated from this and seems to be carrying some sort of virus a self-expression that indicates sickness rather than healing.

Y.I: Is your art an expression of religious conviction?

A.M: Not really. It is a question of belief. I am very much engaged with targeting universal wisdom. When an old man asked The Prophet Mohammed “what is religion?” he replied, “religion is an advice.” This is advice for God’s sake and the believers and mankind. If we cannot advise each other, we are doomed.

Y.I: What is your next project?

A.M: I am working on a study of the laws of aesthetics in the art of Islam and why it is such a comprehensive script and vocabulary.

Yacout info is grateful to the British Moroccan Society for informing us about the exhibition of Ahmed Moustafa’s paintings and to the Mathaf Gallery for inviting us to view the paintings.