Commission for the Al Bustan complex, Abu Dhabi

Late last year I was fortunate enough to be awarded this large commission for a work in a new development in Abu Dhabi. The work will be a large wall-mounted painted relief work, with a composition derived from the geometrical structures used a particular type of traditional Islamic tiling pattern.

The art of the Islamic world and the Middle East in particular is renowned for its sophisticated use of geometrical patterns. While Islamic art is certainly not the only tradition to employ geometric patterns, the structures to be found in that tradition have been a particular focus and carry enormous significance, particularly as a model or metaphor for the cosmos. The star motifs that are a common feature in Islamic art testify to this, and relate also to the long tradition of Islamic astronomy.

My work draws on this tradition, and also on recent discoveries such as those of the physicist Peter Lu that certain medieval Islamic tiling patterns – the girih or strapwork patterns found throughout the ancient Islamic world –anticipated modern mathematical discoveries by around 500 years. In the mid-1970s the mathematician Roger Penrose described a set of what are termed non-periodic tiling patterns – that is, patterns that do not repeat themselves in a regular fashion across the picture plane. That these patterns have since been found to have applications in fields such as the physics of crystals is testimony to the depth of geometrical knowledge held by Islamic artists as far back as 1500 C.E. – and possibly much earlier.

The notion that abstract geometrical structures can serve as metaphors or models for the cosmos and our sense of the sublime is of considerable interest to me. I have long made use of geometry to investigate the value-laden nature of spatial models and the forms of representation through which they are constructed. In many respects, this work  reflects my concerns with the mechanisms used to create the illusion of space within images, and how these relate to our understanding of space itself. For this reason, the structure of the work is folded into three dimensions; the folded form is derived from Penrose’s kite and dart tiling pattern. The image will appear to change as the viewer moves around it, and will not be visible in its entirety from any given vantage point.

The work is due for completion in late 2010.

Tags: abu dhabi, al bustan complex, commission, public art, sculpture