Page 154 - Ahmed- Nawar
P. 154
this experience, Nawar went through the fear of loss that he might not have felt amid the feroc-
ity of war; the sense of danger this time threatened him that he would abandon art.
I quote here an excerpt from Nawar’s text, which is filled with humanity, expressing the states of
these hands that created a life full of work and achievement: “They drew...built...defended…plant-
ed…taught...fought...survived...threw...hit the target...cared…shook hands…unfolded…prayed…
suffered…printed…protected...carried…
Are the Israeli bulldozers the reason? My drawings of Jabal Abu Ghoneim in Jerusalem were eat-
ing my pen and fingers, shaking their tendons, so my fingerprint…suffered...suffered...trembled...
feared and surrendered before the scalpel...the will...life.”
And when Allah granted him recovery, Nawar completed a collection of drawings entitled: "The
Fingerprint", which narrates the memory of these hands and acknowledges their efforts. In addi-
tion to those artworks, where fingerprints were the key theme, his memory came with scenes from
many of his previous experiences. He paid tribute to and showed gratitude for those hands that
created his human, patriotic, and artistic history; he made them a common background for the
collection and drew over them his buildings, forms, and vocabulary of lines, arrows, signs, letters,
numbers, graphs, and remains of electronic devices and chips. His linear structures intertwined
with them. His green leaves sprouted from the tips of the fingers. He released from them his char-
iots fighting for life, placed his square net barriers depicted resilient to the hills of the black front,
planted life and the splendor of achievement, realization, and victory over them, and put with them
pieces of his handwritten memoirs.
The anatomy and the special visual structure of the hands gave a new variable, even to the meth-
od Nawar used to create his compositions. This collection will always remain associated with its
special human emotional nature as if he was remembering all his artistic career over those hands
lying in the heart of the artwork as the origin of life.
The Scene in Nawar’s Drawings: Drawings of Hijaz and China
Nawar presented new approaches to portraying scenes through a collection of artworks depicting
some selected spots in Jeddah and other places in Hijaz. He searched in the spirit of the scene
to intensively express it. Thus, he does not present a scene that he watches from the outside, but
rather a scene that he contemplates from the inside within his space, his direct contact with its
vocabulary, and his attempt to feel its essence, presenting a brilliant, aesthetic composition that
knows no compromise.
The artist organizes the chaos and apparent randomness of the scene and returns to nature’s
original law of composition, preserving the aesthetic independence of the drawn place through
knowing the essence of the scene and creating a state of philosophical tranquility that evokes the
viewer’s desire to contemplate and delve into it. We are before a great artist who possesses the
wisdom of forms and relies on a sharp visual memory that he was blessed with.
The artist performs the process of organizing the chaos of the scene and its apparent random-
ness, and returns to the original law of nature in the construction, preserving the aesthetic inde-
pendence of the drawn place through knowledge of the essence of the scene and evoking a state
of philosophical calm that calls upon the recipient a desire to meditate and follow. We are in front
of a great artist who possesses the wisdom of form and relies on a sharp visual memory that he
has been blessed with.
Nawar abstracts the scene from all excess details to reach only the light and shadow sides in their
purest forms, presenting a visual icon that exhibits extensive artistic expertise capable of retaining
152
ity of war; the sense of danger this time threatened him that he would abandon art.
I quote here an excerpt from Nawar’s text, which is filled with humanity, expressing the states of
these hands that created a life full of work and achievement: “They drew...built...defended…plant-
ed…taught...fought...survived...threw...hit the target...cared…shook hands…unfolded…prayed…
suffered…printed…protected...carried…
Are the Israeli bulldozers the reason? My drawings of Jabal Abu Ghoneim in Jerusalem were eat-
ing my pen and fingers, shaking their tendons, so my fingerprint…suffered...suffered...trembled...
feared and surrendered before the scalpel...the will...life.”
And when Allah granted him recovery, Nawar completed a collection of drawings entitled: "The
Fingerprint", which narrates the memory of these hands and acknowledges their efforts. In addi-
tion to those artworks, where fingerprints were the key theme, his memory came with scenes from
many of his previous experiences. He paid tribute to and showed gratitude for those hands that
created his human, patriotic, and artistic history; he made them a common background for the
collection and drew over them his buildings, forms, and vocabulary of lines, arrows, signs, letters,
numbers, graphs, and remains of electronic devices and chips. His linear structures intertwined
with them. His green leaves sprouted from the tips of the fingers. He released from them his char-
iots fighting for life, placed his square net barriers depicted resilient to the hills of the black front,
planted life and the splendor of achievement, realization, and victory over them, and put with them
pieces of his handwritten memoirs.
The anatomy and the special visual structure of the hands gave a new variable, even to the meth-
od Nawar used to create his compositions. This collection will always remain associated with its
special human emotional nature as if he was remembering all his artistic career over those hands
lying in the heart of the artwork as the origin of life.
The Scene in Nawar’s Drawings: Drawings of Hijaz and China
Nawar presented new approaches to portraying scenes through a collection of artworks depicting
some selected spots in Jeddah and other places in Hijaz. He searched in the spirit of the scene
to intensively express it. Thus, he does not present a scene that he watches from the outside, but
rather a scene that he contemplates from the inside within his space, his direct contact with its
vocabulary, and his attempt to feel its essence, presenting a brilliant, aesthetic composition that
knows no compromise.
The artist organizes the chaos and apparent randomness of the scene and returns to nature’s
original law of composition, preserving the aesthetic independence of the drawn place through
knowing the essence of the scene and creating a state of philosophical tranquility that evokes the
viewer’s desire to contemplate and delve into it. We are before a great artist who possesses the
wisdom of forms and relies on a sharp visual memory that he was blessed with.
The artist performs the process of organizing the chaos of the scene and its apparent random-
ness, and returns to the original law of nature in the construction, preserving the aesthetic inde-
pendence of the drawn place through knowledge of the essence of the scene and evoking a state
of philosophical calm that calls upon the recipient a desire to meditate and follow. We are in front
of a great artist who possesses the wisdom of form and relies on a sharp visual memory that he
has been blessed with.
Nawar abstracts the scene from all excess details to reach only the light and shadow sides in their
purest forms, presenting a visual icon that exhibits extensive artistic expertise capable of retaining
152
