Photo: Janina Strathmeier

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Photos: Janina Strathmeier, Gallery VON & VON

Only a trained calligrapher like Aatifi, who has learned the rules of this traditional art for decades to the point where he can master them in his sleep, can dare to break through precisely this stringent set of rules in such a light-hearted and free way, and thus place his works in a completely new context. The calligrapher, painter and graphic artist with Afghan roots introduces the tradition of centuries-old Arabic calligraphy to the free expression of contemporary art – and withstands the extraordinarily demanding balancing act between mastering characteristic letter proportions and creating his own, detached visual language right up to the highest levels of expert committees and museum collections.

The unambiguity and monumentality of the elements testify to a radical dynamism that runs like a thread through his entire oeuvre, even though he has no regard for the congruence or competition of the individual forms. The focus is on the light-hearted dance of the letters, which takes the viewer on a journey to previously unknown realms.

Even without a linguistic background to decode individual letters, everyone can feel the beauty of the colour and the tension of the forms and spatial effects. Thus Aatifi’s work penetrates through to a global language code with a subordinate claim to understanding, which is, however, expanded to an aesthetic experience by the self-confident colourfulness.

Exhibition text from the Gallery VON & VON

Musical evening with the world-famous soprano Anna Maria Kaufmann on Friday, 23 June 2017

Photos: Janina Strathmeier, Gallery VON & VON