CALLIGRAPHY isn't always the most accessible artistic medium, especially when it's in a different language. Some forms have always transcended that. The written word in Arabic and Chinese has a long history of admiration from those who find it incomprehensible.
A new exhibition at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur makes it even easier to enjoy the Islamic world's greatest gift of creativity. "Alif Lam Ra" is a mysterious title for a story that is fairly straightforward to follow.
As this title is taken from an enigmatic entry in the Quran, viewers might expect an obscure journey through the most faith-filled corner of calligraphy. Instead, it's a gentle and illuminating meander through the entire field. The emphasis is on the contemporary, which makes for a more colourful experience.
There are plenty of devotional works on display, mixed with the secular and some so unfathomable, they would be hard to classify. Going further into that realm of innovation are three-dimensional manifestations of what was once a matter of a man (usually), a reed pen and a piece of scrubbed animal skin (parchment).
How Arabic calligraphy has changed since its formative years. It will forever be associated with Islamic belief as it remains the written manifestation of the Word of God, as delivered by the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
One thousand four hundred years later, nothing has changed with the original message. The world itself is not the same, though. The Arabic writing that came out of that period of revelation has adapted to many different purposes while retaining its sacred status. Not least of these new directions is the movement towards modernity.
EVOLUTION OF EXPRESSION
Going back before the time of ink on parchment, the earliest days of Islamic visual expression were recorded on stones, wood and bones. None of the exhibits at "Alif Lam Ra" has gone back that far for inspiration, but the variety of media has grown, along with all art forms.
Since the 19th century, artists everywhere have been more experimental. Muslim calligraphers were neither the first on this wave of novelty, nor were they the most hesitant.
For centuries, words using the Arabic alphabet have been part of everyday life. They have appeared on household ceramics, metal utensils and to decorate every type of surface that could support them. Seldom the floor, of course, for reasons of sanctity.
"Alif Lam Ra" explores the fine art of calligraphy rather than the applied. Every work in the exhibition is by men — and women — who are considered artists as well as calligraphers. The whole concept of the artist being more than an accomplished craftsman is relatively recent.
For calligraphers it is quite a novelty. They have gone from being highly regarded technicians to feted celebrities in many cases. In lands where figural art is far from being the pinnacle of creativity, the elite of calligraphers are at the apex.
This is a phenomenon that has gone hand in hand with the size of the works — and of the walls upon which they will be placed. From being as intimate as any art of the book, calligraphic works in Arabic have often become large statements on canvas. Just as Western manuscripts were once the domain of the bibliophile in his library, their cousins from the Islamic world are bigger, bolder and more colourful.
The experience has gone from being one of solitary contemplation, shared perhaps with a select coterie of antiquaries, to something revelatory. It is as monumental a change as Andy Warhol and his screen prints of sometimes astonishing dimensions.
SUPREME ART FORM
"Alif Lam Ra" goes far beyond the Quranic reference of its title to show how calligraphy has continued to be the supreme art form of the Islamic world, albeit in startling new ways.
Some artists stick to a more traditional path, including Citi Jeleha Yousoff. She is among Malaysia's most accomplished calligraphers, with an ijaza to confirm it. Her teacher is one of the 20th century's most luminous figures in the field, the Turkish master, Hasan Çelebi.
Not that this has prevented Citi Jeleha from developing a unique style. As with most calligraphers, her work has a borderless look — befitting an artist whose aim is to get closer to the realm of God than to the daily cares of existence.
Every corner of the Islamic world has made a contribution to the calligraphic arts. One region has, as usual, dominated. Iranian calligraphers are very well represented in the exhibition. Perhaps the most famous of all is Parviz Tanavoli, a pioneer of three-dimensional work, which has thrived most visibly as the three Farsi words that make up the word Heech (meaning Nothingness).
It's a bold statement, which has been impressing viewers since a commission from the Shah of Iran's time. As with most of Tanavoli's work, there is a different type of spirituality at play. Many of his compatriots take an equally non-traditional approach to Islamic piety.
RICH DISPLAY
The greatest glory of the exhibition is just how visual something as seemingly limited as letters of the alphabet can be. Calligraphy has developed in many exceptional directions, leaving behind conventional meaning.
The message of these works is often more about personal expression, pessimism or sheer exuberance than about taking an orthodox religious approach. It shows the liberty that exists within Islamic culture, despite the imagined strictures imposed by aniconism.
Looking at the international reception to contemporary art of the Islamic world, calligraphy continues to fascinate as it did among viewers as different as Anglo-Saxon kings and artists of the Italian Renaissance.
You are unlikely ever to see a wider, richer or more colourful display of the genre than at "Alif Lam Ra". It's a fitting accompaniment to the Islamic Art Museum Malaysia's 25th anniversary celebrations, which started last month and continue until the end of June.
Follow Lucien de Guise at Instagram @crossxcultural.