Page 151 - Ahmed- Nawar
P. 151
China Collection, felt-tip pens on paper, 37.5 × 26 cm, 2013
the limits of their distance, and sometimes enlarged or elevated
in the picture. He used a series of composed planes to convey
dimension, managing to depict the deep distance without inter-
rupting the composition. He, therefore, simplifies the vocabulary in
the form of flat planes partially overlapping and giving an illusion
of remoteness. Through these overlapping planes, the artist cre-
ates a rhythmic reaction among the spatial relationships extend-
ing across the picture. The viewer’s eye thus moves across the
overlapping planes of the picture and feels the movement and the
distance dimensions.
Thus, we do not find in Nawar’s scenes the superficial translation
of the one-point European perspective in which the elements of the
scene are arranged on both sides of the painting, which distorts
the composition of the design - according to Cézanne’s opinion -
who in turn used the overlapping planes in depicting the spatial
dimensions, especially in his collection of Mount Sainte-Victoire.
Here, the artist uses a perspective combining his actual vision
of things with his imaginary vision of them. This perspective re-
minds us of the oriental approach to spatial dimensions through
the bird's-eye view, where the eye captures things from the an-
gles most capable of highlighting the poeticism of the scene, and
the perspective of the removed ceilings, where the actual picture
meets the imaginary one, continuing the development of the sub-
ject between both of them. Thus, the visual things gather in a way
that we can only realize through an eye roaming the heavens and
capturing the forms from the angles most capable of intensifying
their presence in either the foreground or the background of the
picture, in a manner transcending the reality of the place.
This tradition was common among all oriental arts. The viewer was
supposed to imagine himself standing on a high place and over-
looking the scene, or as said seeing it from a bird's-eye view, so
the artist would not have to draw overlapping figures or groups,
using his imagination to reformulate the vision of the place. The
149
the limits of their distance, and sometimes enlarged or elevated
in the picture. He used a series of composed planes to convey
dimension, managing to depict the deep distance without inter-
rupting the composition. He, therefore, simplifies the vocabulary in
the form of flat planes partially overlapping and giving an illusion
of remoteness. Through these overlapping planes, the artist cre-
ates a rhythmic reaction among the spatial relationships extend-
ing across the picture. The viewer’s eye thus moves across the
overlapping planes of the picture and feels the movement and the
distance dimensions.
Thus, we do not find in Nawar’s scenes the superficial translation
of the one-point European perspective in which the elements of the
scene are arranged on both sides of the painting, which distorts
the composition of the design - according to Cézanne’s opinion -
who in turn used the overlapping planes in depicting the spatial
dimensions, especially in his collection of Mount Sainte-Victoire.
Here, the artist uses a perspective combining his actual vision
of things with his imaginary vision of them. This perspective re-
minds us of the oriental approach to spatial dimensions through
the bird's-eye view, where the eye captures things from the an-
gles most capable of highlighting the poeticism of the scene, and
the perspective of the removed ceilings, where the actual picture
meets the imaginary one, continuing the development of the sub-
ject between both of them. Thus, the visual things gather in a way
that we can only realize through an eye roaming the heavens and
capturing the forms from the angles most capable of intensifying
their presence in either the foreground or the background of the
picture, in a manner transcending the reality of the place.
This tradition was common among all oriental arts. The viewer was
supposed to imagine himself standing on a high place and over-
looking the scene, or as said seeing it from a bird's-eye view, so
the artist would not have to draw overlapping figures or groups,
using his imagination to reformulate the vision of the place. The
149
