Landscape as an abstraction (January 1999)

 

I have always taken my inspiration from all forms of nature especially during my daily walks in the village of Mahes.

It is here that the colours, muted or bright combined together gives me the experience i seek - wild and agitated.

This selection of paintings , in my opinion expands the idea of landscape by presenting a broad spectrum of approach as well as moods ranging from peaceful to forceful.

In some of my works i try to skirt the line between representation and abstraction in creating through colour and shapes alone, with almost no details.

On other works close inspection reveals almost shimmering palm branches which are nothing more than freely rendered brush and ink lines , images that somehow stand out in relief. Yet in another work there are golden spaces that could be Chinese lacquer or even beaten metal- seemingly any thing but the simple use of paint.

In other works i have also tried to give a lush and interesting composition . Here ,the disciplined structure is brought to life by confrontations of nameless richly worked colours. The Japanese hand made paper adds to the subtle irregularities reinforced by unexpected colour combinations.

The abstracted landscapes are at times in harmony and at times in opposition , both possessing wholly unnatural hues or irrational colour relationships.

This exhibition is a quest for spirituality taking inspiration from the blue sky, rich earth browns, sap green trees , bright purplish pink flora, and the ochre colored rocks , all put together in unreasonable splashes and patches of unconventional landscape colors.

The ultimate message of this show is a kind of visual trick that causes all landscape to look like abstraction and all abstraction to look like landscape.

Dodi Tabbaa
Mahes Jordan
January 1999