A1One (aka Tanha) has claimed his influences to be as diverse as Australian Aboriginal art to Mayan narrative hieroglyphics, but what stands out most in his recent works is his strong connection to his Persian heritage and his Iranian homeland. A1One has been gaining recognition lately and rightfully so. His colorful, intricate scrawls on Tehran’s walls and canvases artfully blend Arabic calligraphy with current street culture, as well as address social issues around the globe.
Exploring the gestures and movements of calligraphy, nantes-based artist kaalam (aka julien breton) has created a body of work that uses hand-held light and long-exposure photographic techniques to capture the transient form within a real setting. often utilizing urban or historical sites as his three-dimensional canvas, the self-taught artist creates his own latin-based alphabet that heavily draws from traditional arabic and eastern calligraphy. arresting and provocative, the floating light forms are not mere superimposed subjects but display a direct engagement with the surroundings.
the capturing process, which can take as long as ten minutes, requires a choreographed movement which kaalam practices before hand in heavy repetition. different colours of ‘ink’ is achieved through pigmented gelatin which is applied directly onto the lamps. none of the photographs are retouched or edited, illustrating the laborious process in a single shot.
German artist Heike Weber creates paintings and drawings by utilizing techniques of heavy repetition. Some of these pieces are purely textural, like the blue ballpoint pen drawings (after the jump), though I think the ones I like the best are in his “Kilims” series, which seem to reference Eastern calligraphic styles.
While in Dubai & Sharjah I had the chance to see some amazing arabic and persian calligraphy. If you’ve ever been into typography or graffiti you will surely walk away from this region with a renewed appreciation for the amazing calligraphy you find around every corner.
Here is a small selection….
