Description
About this piece:
Statera explores the rhombic dot system behind the Thuluth script, an Arabic elegant, cursive writing used on architectural monuments and manuscripts. This system is called Mizan Al Horof (balance of letters) in Arabic. Statera shows each letter’s specific number of dots, 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are printed in Thuluth script in red color over regular handwritten text written by ordinary people. Different styles, signatures, seals, notes, and markings from legal ledger paper contrast with the Thuluth script rules. Created with found legal ledger paper from the late 1800s and 1900s, museum board, hand-printed Arabic letters, laser-engraved wooden boards, stiff-leaf binding with leather wrappings connected to laser engraved bone pieces, Signed, numbered, and dated by the artist.
Materials:
paper, museum board, wooden boards, book cloth, camel bone pieces, linen thread
About the artist:
Islam Aly is currently a lecturer of Design in the College of Art Education at Helwan University. He graduated from the University of Iowa, with an MFA in Book Arts and a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning with a concentration in Art Education. At Helwan University, Egypt he received a BA and an MA in Art Education. His artists’ books explore the possibilities of historical bindings in contemporary book art practice. He has combined book traditions with digital technologies. His work is created at the junction between culture, technology, and aesthetics.
