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رافع الناصري: خمسون عاما بين الشرق والغرب - مقالات وحوارات
A comprehensive monograph dedicated to one of the most influential Arab artists of our time. Rafa Nasiri's art derives from his direct exposure to the mysterious and infinite horizons of his homeland, Iraq. Rafa's passion for and competency in printmaking grew during his training years at the Central Academy for Fine Arts in Beijing, where he developed a vision based on the Chinese approach of man being a part of nature's creative process.
248 pages, Paperback
First published May 6, 2014
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November 17, 2015
This book consists of a selection of the artist's prints spanning 5 decades, along with several introductory essays, including one by the artist.
I didn't care much for most of the essays - possibly nuances were lost in translation if they were not originally written in English - except for the essay by the book's editor May Muzaffar, who is also the artist's wife. Her essay seemed the most straightforward and understandable, outlining her husband's career in a logical chronological order. The author's essay was OK as well, and including influences, literary, from the world of art, which are useful in subsequently "unlocking" meaning in the prints.
I thought his early works were interesting - drawings, woodcuts, but the entire middle section less great, and finally the works from the 90s until when the book ends (2007) have achieved a very high level of technical and artistic merit.
Many of the works are cryptic riddles, including scraps of Arabic calligraphic writing - which may or may not actually mean something. Desert colors, the immense distance of the horizon, broken debris, blood pooling, are some of the non-abstract images suggested by the shapes and colors of his prints. Many of these prints are grim, and dark. Some contain darkness enclosed in ovoid shapes, or within semi-circular shapes. Nasiri left Iraq eventually - in 1991. Is it possible that leaving Iraq - the conflicts, darkness, bloodshed - resulted in the better work the artist produced starting in the 90s?
Nasiri is said to be the father of print-making in 20th C Iraq - traveling to many international conferences, studying printmaking abroad for years at a time. These prints are technically superb, but I found quite a few from the period prior to the 90s for some reason annoying - something about the shapes used to organize space annoying, or seemed to refer to the shape of flabby bodies (at least to me). The repetition of certain motifs became repetitive or predicable. To be truthful, between the essays and the first half of the prints, it was a slog to get through, or persevere, with this book. If the reader picks it up, though, he will be rewarded by the prints starting in the 90s. Some of these are really superb, and these superb images make the slog worth it.
I didn't care much for most of the essays - possibly nuances were lost in translation if they were not originally written in English - except for the essay by the book's editor May Muzaffar, who is also the artist's wife. Her essay seemed the most straightforward and understandable, outlining her husband's career in a logical chronological order. The author's essay was OK as well, and including influences, literary, from the world of art, which are useful in subsequently "unlocking" meaning in the prints.
I thought his early works were interesting - drawings, woodcuts, but the entire middle section less great, and finally the works from the 90s until when the book ends (2007) have achieved a very high level of technical and artistic merit.
Many of the works are cryptic riddles, including scraps of Arabic calligraphic writing - which may or may not actually mean something. Desert colors, the immense distance of the horizon, broken debris, blood pooling, are some of the non-abstract images suggested by the shapes and colors of his prints. Many of these prints are grim, and dark. Some contain darkness enclosed in ovoid shapes, or within semi-circular shapes. Nasiri left Iraq eventually - in 1991. Is it possible that leaving Iraq - the conflicts, darkness, bloodshed - resulted in the better work the artist produced starting in the 90s?
Nasiri is said to be the father of print-making in 20th C Iraq - traveling to many international conferences, studying printmaking abroad for years at a time. These prints are technically superb, but I found quite a few from the period prior to the 90s for some reason annoying - something about the shapes used to organize space annoying, or seemed to refer to the shape of flabby bodies (at least to me). The repetition of certain motifs became repetitive or predicable. To be truthful, between the essays and the first half of the prints, it was a slog to get through, or persevere, with this book. If the reader picks it up, though, he will be rewarded by the prints starting in the 90s. Some of these are really superb, and these superb images make the slog worth it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review