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Exhibition from Gostivar artist Redxep Alpay in Tochka
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On 05.04.2005. in Cultural Center Tochka, Skopje, in organization by “Kontrapunkt” the exhibition of the young artist from Gostivar Redxep Alpay
was opened. The project is supported from the Swiss cultural Programme-Macedonia. |
From Maja Cankulovska – Mihajlovska review…
ABOUT THE GENESIS OF THE ARABESQUE
 Paintings from Alpay Redzep’s latest exhibition are continuation of
the problem of arabesque transverse and the basic elements it has
generated from. Through researching the arabesque genesis, in a
certain way, the artist is telling us a story about the history of the
Islamic art, including some of its characteristic elements in his
paintings – calligraphy, colors, two dimensions, monumentality…
One of Islamic art specific elements is the ornament, and the
prohibition against presenting anthropomorphic images led to
development of a rich and complex abstract expression. On one hand,
the Arabic letters in Alpay Redzep’s works, his ornamental character,
emphasized line and rhythm are part of the Islamic decoration, and on
the other hand, this concept is close to the direct overtaking of
certain calligraphy letters and their transformation into the gestured
abstract-expressionistic painting of the 1940’s and 1950’s (gesture
painting and sign painting), as well as the late reductive approach in
the abstract painting of pure sign structures or graphic signs in
painted monochromatic ground.
The old tradition of the Islamic miniature painting can be discovered
in the intention towards two-dimension and decorative drawings of
particular painted surfaces. The amalgamation of all dimensions into
one unity and all time phases into one, may be noticed in the elements
of surface painting, where the one-color ground is a base for
chromatic, gesture variations, without relation to front and back, and
the surface of the painting is the first and the only stand and a
place for painted experience. Contrary to the vivid color development
in Islamic art, here we find harmony between the neutral and passive
background and the active arabesque structure i.e. the eastern
calligraphy netting, and the dusky colors, referring to the author,
are connected to the dark side of human’s soul.
These works, inspired by the Islamic art, unite the calligraphy as
original Islamic art together with the 20th century western art
modernist movements. The arabesque in oriental landscapes (a-la-turka)
defines the term calligraphy as an attempt for aesthetic deformation
of a sign, letter, and number in fine arts. This motif is part of the
building the mystic dimensions in these abstract landscapes and
represents transferring and mirroring of the eternal movement energy,
and, according to the artist, the arabesque is creation of painting
without figure and, at the same time, negation of the painting in the
European sense.
Read more on Alpay
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