Shareef Sarhan - Original Watercolor and Acrylic Paintings
The Arabic Calligraphy is characterized with smooth shapes and complex drawings. The Alexandrian Philosopher Euclid called this Arabian art "the Spiritual Art". To sum up, the Arabic Calligraphy is a tool for documentation and communication. For Arabs, it is an art that has a glorious history, great teachers and strong traditions. The quality of beauty distinguishes the Arabic Calligraphy from the regular writing. While the regular writing expresses thoughts, the Arabic Calligraphy expresses beauty. The real start of the Arabic Calligraphy was after the death of Prophet Mohammed peace be upon him. At that time Umr ibn alKhattab urged the frst Khalifa of Muslims Abu Bakr to write Al- Qura'n. That Calligraphy did not have dots, marks for the beginnings or the ends of the Qura'n verses or numbers for the Qura'n verses. This Calligraphy had to develop and go throughdifferent stages such as putting the dots on the letters, and vowelization. Colours and Letters………..mean Homeland. Many letters and colours form words with different meanings, especially when we go back in time to more than a thousand years ago when the Arabs wrote their words and letters without dots. The usage of these Arabic letters in art gives different and new effects when it goes back to its origin. Here I work on the
first idea of the Arabic Calligraphy as I write the letter in the same way it was written 1400 years ago without dots. Any person can read it the way he/she wants or likes. These letters mix with the crowded city, faces and the details of the body.
Letters of Shareef
Sarhan Shareef understands art from quite different perspective. For him, life is a huge kiss that covers letter history areas. He narrates the letter itself as if it was a tale. Shareef reform it as an initial source of the tale. With Shareef, tale is a letter and letter is a tale. By his camera, he connects history to the present. Writing becomes the scene itself although it was expressing the scene.
About the Artist: Born in Gaza in 1976, Shareef is an artist, professional photographer and freelancer. He is a founding member of Shababeek Contemporary Art group and an active member in the Association of Palestinian Artists. Sarhan received his diploma in Arts from the University of ICS in the United States. He participated in several art training courses and workshops locally and internationally. He also received the Bronze award of the Festival of Arab Photographers - 2010 and Oscar Benally Cultural International Award in Cairo in 2009. Sarhan participated in many solo exhibitions and group exhibitions in Gaza, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Sharjah, Dubai, Cairo, Paris, Rome, Milan and Marseille.
