Khaled Al Saai : Memory of a City

30 Jan-14 Apr 2015

Overview

Khaled Al Saai’s distinctive approach to Arabic calligraphy allows for the expressive calligraphic forms and letters to come together creating entire landscapes with vistas of colour and emotion. Born in Syria, Al Saai grew up in a household surrounded by painting, music and calligraphy. At the age of 18 he had already established his reputation as a promising calligrapher, going on to graduate from the University of Damascus in 1998 with his MA in Fine Art. Today, he is an internationally recognized master of Arabic calligraphy, and works in an astonishing range of styles, from more classical modes (often using quotations from poetry) to radically inventive compositions, in which lettering is fragmented into fantastical pictorial compositions. In recent works, Al Saai explores the possibilities of Arabic script and draws on the unrest taking place in his native country with a the profusion of collaged shapes acting together with lettering and often depicting a profusion of human voices crying out.