Art Talks exhibition space uses these verses by Jalal ad-Din Rumi, the 13th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic to introduce the solo exhibition 'Untitled' by Egyptian artist Moataz Nasr.
The exhibition – scheduled to open on 23 September – stands at the crossroads between Sufism as spiritual practice and the process of artistic production.
"The spiritual and the worldly come into play, at times forcefully, at others subtly, in his works, to help us search for the alchemy of happiness – alluding to one of the treatises of influential Persian Islamic thinker, Imam Al Ghazali," we read in the Art Talk's statement about the exhibition.
Nasr is an Egyptian self-taught artist, whose first works produced in the 1990s used conventional media as a platform for expression. Having been awarded numerous recognitions, Nasr began incorporating video, performance art and installation into his artistic practices.
Art Talks statement explains that Untitled, which consists of twenty five new paintings, represents a milestone in the artist’s career, "an impassionate desire to return to his native land as an artist and to his artistic roots with abstract painting."
Source: Ahram Online