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Islamic Exhibitions at San Francisco Public Library

Islamic Exhibitions at San Francisco Public Library
Islamic Exhibitions at San Francisco Public Library

A Qur’anic exhibition is currently underway at the Skylight Gallery, San Francisco Public Library in California.

Islamic art and Qur’anic verses are the central theme of the exhibition ‘Arabic: Language of the Quran’ in San Francisco, which seeks to raise awareness among different cultures about the holy Qur’an, Mehr News Agency reported.

More than 50 works by contemporary artists of San Francisco and the Middle East who reflect Qur’anic verses in their artworks are on show. The works have been created using a variety of mediums including painting, ceramic works, stained glass, textile, photography and digital media.

Islamic art with its beautiful patterns and unique designs has manifested in forms such as architecture, calligraphy, painting and ceramics. The exhibit will showcase some of those traditions.

The exhibition is organized by a local NGO Islamic Art Exhibit (IAE). Since Islamic art is often neglected by popular galleries, the group has launched Islamic exhibitions in public places to make up for the shortcomings.

The exhibit will run until March 20.

 Calligraphy Exhibit

The library will also host an Islamic calligraphy exhibition beginning March 14 where calligraphic art by Iranian artist Arash Shirinbab will be displayed.

Cosponsored by IAE and other Islamic institutes in San Francisco, the event will present the history, tools and principles of the Arabic-Persian (Islamic) calligraphy.

Shirinbab is an award winning calligrapher who graduated in Design Strategy from California College of the Arts.

He has participated in over 60 exhibitions in the US, Spain, Poland, Canada, Russia, France, Italy, and Iran in the past ten years. He has led over 10 calligraphy workshops and demonstrations including workshop at University of Toronto and master class at the Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy in Moscow. He is currently serving as the executive director of Ziya Art Center in Berkeley.

Among Shirinbab’s awards are the Special Merit Award for the 3rd Annual International Animals Art competition by Light Space & Time Gallery and Special Recognition Award for My Art international competition by Art Quench Magazine.

Shirinbab has created and coined a new painting style called “Poem-Painting”. In this style, he uses both the linguistic and aesthetic power of words to create poetic visual art pieces. His inspiration usually begins with a poem whose essence and atmosphere illuminate his own world. Without writing out the entire poem, he extracts its key words and paints or inscribes them in different styles of calligraphy in his own style.

His combination of calligraphy, painting, and poetry is intended as a dialogue between distinct art forms and cultures, which reflects both his own Persian identity and contemporary, universally comprehensible artistic values. While a poem in itself requires translation in order to be intelligible to others, Shirinbab’s artworks are meant for an audience from all backgrounds, regardless of language.

 

Financialtribune.com