An
international talent finds his way to Kennett Square
One of this
year's most compelling art shows isn't in New York or
Philly, but right here in Kennett Square at Longwood Art
Gallery. "Reflections of Hope" features the
paintings of Iraqi Thamer Dawood. Like too many
folks, this writer is ignorant of the fact that even as
a police state, Baghdad was not a throwback to the
Middle Ages. Hence, western art was seen and
appreciated and it is the direction that he went with
his work.
Combining abstract art with a deeply personal figurative
aspect that touches on a language of his own making,
"Friendship" overflows with import and meaning. Of
course, the palette and composition brings to mind
arguably the most influential abstract artist of all
time, Mark Rothko.
Yet there is also an atmosphere to the background
palette that suggest a landscape as well, with a grand
green expanse on the right giving way to a pair of
orange bands beneath the circle that spills out odd
images. This ground is indeed the ground, while
above is a sky that shifts ever so slightly from one hue
of blue to another.
At once haunting and lovely is "Baghdad in the Night."
This starts off all abstract, with a background
consisting of a number of blue and green squares and
rectangles. However, there is an overlay of two
images.
On the left is a silhouette of a man and either his
shadow or doppelganger; while to his immediate right is
a field of red sporting green and yellow highlights, its
form akin to a pillar of flame. Or perhaps
something else altogether. Between it and the
silhouette is an orange square with varied abstract and
improvisational designs, plus some numbers. What
can be inferred from these is myriad, though laced with
sadness more than anything else.
On the purely abstract side, one of the most intense
paintings is "Pain and Happiness." This is a mix
of rectangular planes superimposed by a blobby field of
gold. Yes, gold. The palette here is what
separates it from work done on this side of the planet,
in that most gold found in American art is bright gold
leaf. Not so with this painting.
Here we have a columnar shape flanking the right in rich
crimson that encases various scarlet images that could
be letters of an alphabet yet to exist. This is
bordered by a thin vertical band of even brighter red.
Beside that is the field of gold, the happiness, if you
will. It is a burnished shade while the blobs
coursing over it are a brighter gold with other images
and color adding to its full force.
"Reflections of Hope" is an experience that can
literally change one's life and lend fresh insight to a
city now left in ruin by war.
PA 8 News
Group Com
No. 28 July 10 - 16, 2008
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
R. B. STRAUSS
