July 2011, Pages 38-39

Special Report

"Dis[Locating] Culture" Brings New Ideas, Style to Islamic Art in America

By Elaine Pasquini

Believing in the need to address preconceived differences between Islamic and Western cultures, Islamic art scholar Reem Alalusi and Pittsburgh gallery owner Michael Berger co-curated "Dis [Locating] Culture: Contemporary Islamic Art in America," a fascinating exhibition that challenges the stereotypes of Islam and seeks to develop cross-cultural understanding through the medium of art.

In their highly anticipated exhibition, the curators chose to present works by nine of America's finest Islamic artists as contemporary Western art, separate and distinct from commonly perceived views of traditional Islamic art. "As art builds dialogue, makes the unseen seen, it was time to mount an exhibition that shows that art related to or by Muslims isn't 'Islamic,' but is contemporary American art," Berger explained.

"These works mix old and new ideas and possess strong thematic conceptual underpinnings," added Alalusi, an astute observer of the general trends of contemporary art. "They are diverse in theme, concept and style, and, while some are political, others are playful and whimsical."

While influenced by their individual histories and experiences, the eclectic collection transcends the artists' heritage, moving freely between traditional and contemporary subjects, styles and ideas.

Sandow Birk, sometimes referred to as "the surfer artist," has no ties to Islam, except through his travels as a surfer in search of the perfect wave. After reading the Qur'an for his own enlightenment, Birk began his American Qur'an series of juxtaposing the suras over scenes of daily life.

As a self-described avid consumer of Persian art, Negar Ahkami, of Iranian heritage, brought the overwhelming patterns and electric colors of Persian art into a secular realm that reflected the angst of many Iranians. "I view the glittery flamboyance of everyday Iranians—both inside and outside of the country—as a real testimony to their human spirit, in spite of the repressive regime," she explained. "As an artist I am in love with visual tension." In her own Iranian-American take on "Salome" she made references to Islamophobia and her own fears of the current Iranian regime.

Jowhara AlSaud's work began as an "exploration of censorship in Saudi Arabia and its effects on visual communication." Applying the language of the censors to her personal photographs, she began making line drawings, omitting faces and skin, as shown in her "New Year" print.

Trained as a classical miniaturist, Farah Ossouli's works have been widely shown in Europe and her native Iran. Using earth tones against brilliant and radiant colors, Ossouli's imaginative paintings tell eternal stories of love and heroism, as reflected in "My Bird, Your Cage."

Watching Shoja Azari's seven-minute video "Day of the Last Judgment," viewers cannot help but be drawn in by the intensity of the artist's incredibly moving commentary on the Iraq war, or ignore a feeling of foreboding as the U.S-led wars continue and a new military action has begun in Libya.

Transitioning from a graffiti artist in Los Angeles into the fine arts world, Amir Fallah irreverently incorporates everything that is anathema to fine art, such as drug paraphernalia and guns, into his highly-charged work.

On enormous canvasses, Los Angeles-based Anoka Faruqee imitates machine-produced images by repetitive hand-painted colorful motifs of anti-iconic Islamic patterning.

Drawing heavily on the rich representational traditions of Islamic art, Asad Faulwell tackles the iconography of the secular. Manipulating the background motif into the main subject, Faulwell transforms his main subject into an almost-hidden secondary theme.

"Oil Barrel No. 7" by Iranian-born Shiva Ahmadi was one of the most striking and perhaps timely works in the exhibit, since oil and its rising price, allegedly caused by the pro-democracy revolt in Libya and concerns about unrest spreading to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, are dominating news headlines. The gilded exterior of the standard size oil barrel features delicate imagery inspired by Persian miniatures intermingled with images of war and violence, including guns, combat boots and bleeding bullet holes, bringing to mind U.S. intervention in oil-producing Muslim countries.

"The point of this exhibition is that the way to break through the cultural divide is not through education, but through the arts," author and scholar Reza Aslan told guests attending the exhibition's opening reception on April 15. "It's art that actually helps define our identity. What we are witnessing tonight is a new kind of identity being formed in the United States, and artists are leading the way."

Aslan, the editor of Tablet and Pen, delivered a well-received keynote address the following day at a symposium at the Andy Warhol Museum co-sponsored by the Pittsburgh Middle East Institute.

Free and open to the public, the exhibit at the Michael Berger Gallery, 30 South Sixth Street, South Side, Pittsburgh, PA, runs through July 30.

For more information, visit <www.michaelbergergallery.com>. 

Elaine Pasquini is a free-lance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.