Khaled Al Saai, a master calligrapher, has won numerous awards for his work in traditional and modern Arabic calligraphy. The Sharjah-based Syrian artist has exhibited his work at prestigious museums and galleries across the world and taught calligraphy at leading universities in Europe, North and South America, North Africa and the Gulf region.
In his latest exhibition, The Surface and Beneath, Al Saai has combined his expertise in Arabic calligraphy with painting and collage to create soulful compositions that are infused with movement, light, and depth. Rather than using words or phrases, the artist has used the forms of the letters, flowing brush strokes, a palette of soft colours and cuttings from newspapers and magazines to express himself eloquently.
“The words of great poets, writers and philosophers are a huge inspiration for me but I do not want my work to be just about what words or language can convey. I have tried to create a new visual, abstract language that is universally understood and takes me beyond the surface to communicate in a deeper way. I use Arabic letters only as visual forms for expression. By using the seven basic styles of calligraphy and their myriad variations, I can depict the same letter in diverse ways to convey different things. By carefully selecting the letters, the calligraphic style, the colours and the arrangement of the forms, I can express various moods, thoughts, feelings, ideas, landscapes, musical rhythms, metaphorical meanings and the beauty that is around us and within us,” Al Saai says.
The artist belongs to a creative family and grew up surrounded by art, music and poetry, so combining different forms of art comes naturally to him. “I have been painting landscapes and figures, and copying my older brother’s calligraphic works since childhood. Rather than struggling with the dilemma of whether to be a painter or calligrapher, I decided to merge the two in what I describe as ‘paintography’. My rigorous training in the rules and discipline of Arabic calligraphy has given me the ability to improvise and soar with freedom as an abstract painter,” he says.
The artist likes to incorporate natural materials such as leaves and petals and cuttings from newspapers and magazines in his paintings. “I use collage to add texture, balance, and new layers to my compositions. I always cut out interesting images or texts and store them carefully in my studio, so when I think of a theme for a new painting, I know exactly which cuttings will fit but sometimes it is a cutting that inspires the theme,” he says.
His themes range from personal feelings and Sufi philosophy to current socio-political issues. In a work titled, A Common Language, Al Saai has incorporated cuttings from publications of various languages into his calligraphic paintings. “Most people have an innate desire to understand each other. I have seen during my travels abroad that if you have a real desire to communicate with others, language is never a barrier because a common language of empathy and compassion evolves. But when the will is not there, even speaking the same language does not help people to understand each other,” he says.
The letters are arranged to form a building-like structure in a work titled, Building a Dream, conveying the fact that all dreams start from a tiny spark, scattered thoughts and random ideas but with commitment and hard work, they can be built into reality. Through the wave like pattern formed by the letters in Riding the Waves, and the seeming chaos in An Open Mind, the artist says that life tosses us around, taking us to unpredictable places and unexpected experiences, but we must keep an open mind allowing new adventures and experiences to flow into our lives and learn to enjoy riding these waves.
In Winter in Petra, Al Saai has simply expressed his joy at seeing the unique combination of sand and snow in the beautiful city of Petra, sculpted from a mountain. On the other hand, Ascension, inspired by Sufi philosophy speaks about transcending the earthly, material world towards a more spiritual and peaceful state of being.
Other works speak about his own philosophy of life and art, such as Unconditional Freedom, and Surface and Beneath, after which the show is named. “Liberation is all the more enjoyable, if you have experienced restriction; and only light things float on the surface, while the heavier, more valuable things lie deeper down,” Al Saai says.
The Surface and Beneath will run at The Majlis Gallery in the Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood until April 6.
