Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist
Tate Modern (3rd July 2013 - 22nd September 2013)
African Art, to many, is considered limited to artefacts and cultural motifs such as masks and jewellery. Though this has its own appeal showing the long history of a fascinating civilisation, African modernists, such as Ibrahim El-Salahi, show a side to Africa that is very much up to date – and challenging ideas and attitudes in the West.
Tate Modern (3rd July 2013 - 22nd September 2013)
African Art, to many, is considered limited to artefacts and cultural motifs such as masks and jewellery. Though this has its own appeal showing the long history of a fascinating civilisation, African modernists, such as Ibrahim El-Salahi, show a side to Africa that is very much up to date – and challenging ideas and attitudes in the West.
Born in 1930, El-Salahi has been involved in the Arts since
the 1940’s employing techniques and methods as diverse as calligraphy,
painting, drawing and writing. The retrospective at Tate Modern shows how varied his work is – and yet, how incredible
adept he is when altering his skills to suit a different outcome. Though ‘A
Visionary Modernist’ primarily focuses on his more abstract work, within Room
2, you gain a chance to see the paintings produced during his government
scholarship at the Slade School of Fine Art. These portraits are observational
and textured and could easily be amongst the portraits currently on display at
The National Portrait Gallery’s BP Portrait
Award. Considering El-Salahi turned away from representational study, the
foundations of such traditional ideas surely enhances the later works that he
is celebrated for.
His breakdown of calligraphic lettering, and his rearrangement
within paintings, became core to the image of the Khartoum School and this
retrospective shows the building blocks that led to El-Salahi’s language. Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams I from
1961-65, is akin to a city-scape whereby the colours resemble bones and
skeletons rising up from the ground; mighty like skyscrapers; organic in their
shapes.
His later works become more conceptual as he produces
multiple, smaller pieces, named The Tree.
They all grow in an organic fashion as he built up the lines steadily, like the
growth of plant. Many pieces remain connected through straight, defined lines –
anything but natural - and remain clearly organised and structured. The ideas
are conflicted – as you look at a conceptual, flat, straight-lined image named The Tree.
Such a diverse range of techniques show a deep respect for Art
History – but also for his own cultural roots. A video interviewing El-Salahi
describes who he produces art for – himself and his “ego”; his own culture and,
finally, everyone else. His art aims to reach all and as someone far removed
from the Sudanese and Islamic background El-Salahi is from, it is a testament to
his skill that I am so inspired by his work.
His Art can effortlessly imitate cross-hatching techniques
of Renaissance figure-drawing, distort bodies and stretch them out like
Giacometti (Funeral and the Crescent,
1963) and then show a clear connection with African masks (Self-Portrait of Suffering, 1961) – and yet something remains the
same; his love, passion and appreciation of what Art is. There is no arrogance
or ignorance; no pretence and assumed intelligence; just a desire for
understanding. This is what speaks loud and clear, and what draws you in – a man
on a quest to create beauty and in ‘A Visionary Modernist’, Ibrahim El-Salahi
has achieved that.
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