EXHIBITION: ART AS ADAGIO |
Montreal-based artist Shireen Kamran’s paintings, shown recently at Canvas Gallery, rejoice in the sheer abstraction of form.
Aptly titled,‘A Search for Meaning’, this exhibition continues Kamran’s artistic journey, which has been tied to the intuitive processes of mark-making with the paintbrush, imprint of the hand and textured materials, and scraps of flat paper surfaces collaged on to the canvas.
The viewing was accompanied by the faint sound of Samuel Barber’s ‘Adagio for Strings’ and ‘Volin Concerto.’ In music, adagio means ‘played slowly.’ If a string has an adagio movement, it’s a selection that’s played at a slow tempo. Similarly, viewing Kamran’s paintings is an emotionally and physically immersive experience, only if we allow ourselves to be open to it by not trying to locate recognisable objects or physical forms.
The work demands a mindfulness and presence to savour the forms that layer one upon the other, regardless of the association to representational elements. The rhythm of music neither reflects nor translates into the imagery, but rather what Kamran has been listening to while painting.
Shireen Kamran’s abstract art forms are meditative in nature and........