Photo: Kristian Barthen

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Photos: Kristian Barthen

Abstraction is a constant process. It embodies the notion that the world is changeable. New things emerge and at the same time awaken possibilities to make them accessible to us in an enriching way. A tool such as written language can play a central role in this process. Aatifi is an Afghan-German artist whose career path in Kabul, Dresden and Bielefeld is based on his early training as a master calligrapher and his studies in painting. In his art, Aatifi isolates calligraphic signs from their environment and breaks them down into basic aesthetic elements. Detaching the shape of the word from the meaning of its content enables him to use it compositionally. In the process, the fragments on the canvas create a complex space through their different colours and materials.

The possibility of interpreting his mother tongue is thus erased, allowing the outside viewer to find independent access into what is depicted. This lack of lexical references, despite its origins in classical calligraphy, is what makes his abstract-scriptural art so special. Aatifi places the constant contradiction of semiotics and semantics in written languages on a pedestal, to advocate for deforming and playing with them.

Raiko Oldenettel, art historian (excerpt from the flyer)

Photos: Kristian Barthen