Sacred Meanings
Cairo, Egypt: Islam Aly, 2017. Hardcover. Number 16 of 40 variant copies. "'Sacred Meanings' is based on the hexagon, one of the main shapes in creating grids and patterns in Islamic art. The form of the book, its words, and progression reveals the fading and development of a pattern. The book invites the viewer to consider his experiences with the transcendent and indivisible. 'Sacred Meanings' presents an encounter that deals with the dichotomies of life, fall and rise, suspicion and faith, disorientation and orientation, chaos and order."
A Coptic bound hexagonal book with laser engraved Plexiglass covers featuring the title on the front cover. The interior pages are laser cut on mould-made Johannot paper. Each page features geometric images, many with corresponding words such as "chaos" on a page with random forms and "structure" on a page with well-ordered shapes forming a pattern. Size: 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches.
Islam Aly is an Egyptian-born book artist and teacher. His books explore the possibilities of historical bindings in contemporary book art practices They have appeared in international exhibitions in the United States and abroad, and in private and public collections including the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Library of Chile, Yale University, and Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In an artist's statement he writes: "When I make a historical book structure, I go through a learning process. I learn the history as well as the different physical aspects of the binding such as how a book form is constructed in a specific sequence. I learn about the use of different materials such as paper, wood, leather and dyes. I learn to make choices in selecting and replacing traditional materials that I don’t have access to. I use these different experiences to enhance my work in making artists’ books and to use historical and cultural references from these structures in the actual content. In essence, I wish to explore new ways to use the rich structures of historical books in contemporary artists’ book practice and incorporate contemporary content into strictly historical structures." ARTB/070725 Size: 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches. Fine.
Item #38107
Price: $700.00