Profile of the Artists

Saleh Al Shukairi

Saleh Al Shukairi, who was born in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, in 1977,
had proudly attained his Multimedia degree through the Middle East
College of Information Technology in Oman. He is an active member
of the Omani Society for Fine Arts, where he consistently displays his
unborn talent in the Calligraphy Club and Youth Studio. Saleh
managed to exhibit his graphic excellence through numerous
international events in various countries around the world such as
Germany, Pakistan and the UAE, including the 11th Asian Art Biennale
in Bangladesh where he had admirably received the "Honorary Award"
for the portrayal of his exquisite masterpieces. He has successfully
participated in all calligraphy workshops held in Oman since 1993,
including the creation of the largest painting in the world, the Muscat
Festival in the year 2000, and the Folk Festival which was organized
by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, USA, in 2005.

"Letters & Dots" - The concept

“I started feeling connected & linked with the Arabian letters
(Scripts) ever since I was young, where I was inspired to master
the precise rules of the Arabian letters through its shapes & styles
in which it should be written.”

In 1997, I had realized that I should display my works entailing
different visions than that of the old systems present. Therefore, I had
started to venture into newer and more modern techniques that would
prove to be increasingly practical and ever more persuade the way
for the Arabian letters, and this resulted in a mean of appearance of
what doubts in my mind.

I started using all the "28 Arabian letters" in ways that no person could
read or decipher except for me, and after being in virtual harmony with
these letters for a while, I intended to present my masterpieces in a
manner that would engrave a lasting impression on my audience. My
long lived goal is to explain how the use of letters could be congruently
used to express one’s feelings & more over to shed light on the
everlasting value of Arabian letters through different points of views.

ARTIST INTENT AND METHODOLOGY

The physical act of writing calligraphy plays a major role in my art.
The ‘act’ or ‘gesture’ is central and proves to be one of the fundamentals
of my works. It is not the finished work, but rather the process which leads
to it, rather is art. In this respect it is increasingly akin to perform art than
any other modes or forms of visual expression.
The intent of my work is not to be read in the classical sense but to be considered as abstract. This abstraction gives one the freedom to
‘experience my art in their own way..’

The characters of my work are a tectonic, dynamic and seem to fall
off the canvas. My work refuses to be packed or consolidated. I use
diagonal text paths to give more structure and tension to a fact which
seems chaotic at first sight.

Some text-paths are connected with each other, while sometimes
the text can be brutal or provocative where the words may seem to be
caught behind bars, imprisoned, or prevented from ‘escaping’, from
being ‘read’ or ‘deciphered’.