Tashkeel is pleased to announce Wissam Shawkat’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, Monumental 11/11.

The new collection of drawings, screen prints and canvases mark a departure for the artist from more traditional interpretations found in his works shown as part of his Letters of Love (2011) collection in New York. As opposed to more traditional explorations of form and rhythm, the pieces that form part of Monumental 11/11 draw on a tension between geometric abstraction and the sinuous character of Arabic calligraphic scripts. The artist combines visual references derived from Dadaist, Futurist and Bauhaus movements with bold, simple palettes. By liberating Arabic calligraphy from its textual context and placing it within a more abstract visual form, the works exist purely as a celebration of shapes and rhythm – reflecting the transformation of the organic forms of letters into monumental geometric shapes and volumes.

“Calligraphy is the sum of all art forms – it is the art of drawing lines, connecting points, balancing forms. It is about perfecting the shapes so that they are in tandem – rhythm and contrast; harmony and the unexpected. It is a visual form of thoughts and articulation”. Wissam Shawkat