ART FACTS: Harmonic, chromatic calligraphy

Calligraphy is the most respected art form in Islam and the traces of this art in history and within Islamic society attracted not only Muslims but non-Muslims also around the world. Therefore it's obvious that the artists are more attracted to this form of art and almost every artist who like to work in any genre of art also did calligraphy during his/her career.
As calligraphy was honoured the highest of arts, traditionally, training for the calligrapher was long and difficult, as it required the mastery of several styles of scripts. But as the centuries past calligraphers started to decorate their calligraphy works with flowers and geometric shapes and designs in many different colours and also embellished their works with gold and silver leaf.
Afterwards calligraphy has taken a new turn and it has acquired the form of painterly calligraphy. This new way of calligraphy has lately been practiced by the calligraphers of our time. The calligraphers and painters of the modern era give more attention towards painterly calligraphy rather traditional one. They started drawing and painting the words freely and creatively without strictly following the traditional styles but of course this type of calligraphic work was governed by the principles of balance and proportion, rhythm and unity.
Rashid Arshed also followed this genre of calligraphy in his exhibition of calligraphy works titled "Text and Texture" at Koel Gallery, Karachi. By combining calligraphy with his childhood skills of writing 'Takhti' and his relation to the language he was able to create calligraphy works that not only soothes eyes of the viewers but also urged them to praise the artist's creations.
He naturally used bold colours and texture along with text to create his calligraphies and appreciate the beauty of colours and as well as text. The Holy words in his calligraphy were repeated again and again creating a rhythm which invokes spiritual tranquillity.
The calligraphy indicated great respect and harmony between the text and compositions which also showed his good taste and imagination. The layers of colours from bright to light created a resplendent effect while the cloudy white created luminous appearance of calligraphies that has a strong aesthetic appeal.
He exercised freedom of expression that came with painterly calligraphy in creating abstract impressions by using his imagination. Hence in most of his works the letters and words were illegible and appeared to be layered on one another creating a mirage of words. This optical illusion made a viewer keener to understand what the artist wanted to write, which seemed to be disappeared in design and composition.
The colourful palette of calligraphies along with white created a mystic look. The works appeared in various shapes, highlighted by bright colours such as red, orange, green, blue, ochre and cloudy white that were eye catching as they produce a glitter just like silver and gold leaf that enrich the artworks resulting in an artistic beauty.
"For me, the subject of calligraphy is the expression of peace, serenity and spiritualism. The inherent mystic quality of the Arabic characters, together with chromatic, tactile and spatial dispensations, imbues a spiritual aura into a calligraphic painting and the act of painting itself becomes meditative," said Rashid Arshed.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])