@Home with ... Geometry in Arts

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Geometry is at the heart of Middle Eastern art but has also inspired so many others in the West. We are delighted to welcome four great artists, Lulwah Al Homoud, Anila Qayyoum Agha, Timo Nasseri and Sahand Hessamiyan who will tell us more about this very specific element of their inspiration. The Talk will be moderated by Roxane Zand recognized Arts Advisor and co-author of Geometry and Art in the Modern Middle East. Please join us and learn more about the point, the lines and the angles in the world of arts.

ROXANE ZAND

Harvard and Oxford educated, Roxane has a long career in the Art World. From museum to arts institutions, (Iran Heritage Foundation, Asia House, Ismaili Institute, British museum), she joined Sothebys as Director for the Middle East and the Gulf, and subsequently as Deputy Chairman and Senior Director before leaving in March 2020. She sits, currently, on the Advisory Council of the Pictet Art Prize and has contributed to a number of publications on Arab and Iranian artists, most recently co-authoring “Geometry and Art in the Modern Middle East”. She works as an arts advisor with a focus on the Middle East.

LULWAH AL HOMOUD

Lulwah, an established international award winning Saudi artist, graduated with a master degree in Art from Central Saint Martins and has started her career in London. A pioneer in Saudi Arabia’s contemporary art movement, Lulwah Al Homoud is known for her minimalist abstract artworks that draw together elements of language, spirituality, and traditional Islamic art. Her artistic practice deconstructs Arabic script and applies ancient mathematical principles to devise unique systems of expression, revealed through the elaborate geometric patterns that have become a hallmark of her work. This process reflects Al Homoud’s preoccupation with the relationship between creator and creation, as well as the multifarious ways in which God communicates with man. Her work is among the permanent collection of international museums and art institutions in USA, Europe and the UAE.

ANILA QUAYYUM AGHA

Anila is an Art Prize award wining Pakistani–American cross-disciplinary artist. She received her BFA from the National College of Arts, Lahore and an MFA from the University of North Texas. Agha works in a cross disciplinary fashion with mixed media; creating artwork that explores global and environmental politics, cultural multiplicity, mass media, and social and gender roles in our current cultural and global scenario. As a result, her artwork is conceptually challenging, producing complicated weaves of thought, artistic action and social experience. Her work was included in a collateral event at the 2019 Venice Biennale. She had her recent solo shows in different museums in Spain and the USA. Her work has been collected by both institutions and private collectors; nationally and internationally.

SAHAND HESAMIYAN

Born in 1977 in Tehran, Sahand Hesamiyan holds a Bachelor of Sculpture from the Tehran University. In his practice, he explores contemporary sculptural directions, which take cue from Islamic and Iranian architecture. His works are primarily interactive. They link science and geometry to the abstract nature of spirituality, which are a reflective attempt to discover the esoteric nature of Iranian Culture through the dissection of its architectural form. In many occasions this intense relationship goes beyond the mere reflection and repetition of the forms and influences the titles of the pieces and the brief descriptions often accompanying them. Sahand’s work is included in important private and public collections including: the Delfina Entrecanales Collection. Sahand currently lives and works in Tehran.

TIMO NASSERI

Timo Nasseri lives and works in Berlin. He received his diploma in photography from the Lette-Verein, Berlin in 1997. The German-Iranian photographer-turned-sculptor Timo Nasseri explores the concept of infinity in his body of sculptural and illustrative works. His small and large drawings demonstrate his fascination with the intricacies of mathematics, geometry, constellations, and Islamic ornamentation. Recipient of Art Dubai’s Abraaj Group Art Prize in 2011, Nasseri has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Berlin, New York, Paris, Dubai, Tehran, and New Delhi.

THE BOOK: Geometry and Art in the modern Middle East.

In this groundbreaking volume on the use of Islamic geometry in modern and contemporary art from the region, Roxane Zand and Sussan Babaie explore ways in which traditional geometric legacies are applied and interpreted in new contexts. Babaie's essay traces the significance of geometry in the history of Islamic arts, looking at the emergence of modernisms of the Middle East through the prism of selected works by the artists. Their works underscore the distinctive ways geometry has inspired the art of the region.