The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, London
23rd Jan 2010 – July 2011
East Wing Nine presents EXHIBITIONISM: The Art of Display at The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, London WC2R 0LR, from 23 January 2010 to July 2011. The exhibition features works by international artists in an eclectic mixture of media. The exhibition is sponsored by Talbot Underwriting Ltd and Whos Jack Ltd. Ali Omar Ermes’ ‘The Sixth Ode’ is exhibited there in the Private Collection for the public to view.
“The Sixth Ode follows Ermes unique compositional template of focusing on large, dramatic single letterforms, painted with huge brushes on a richly-coloured yet abstract background.
Typically quoting Arabic/Islamic poetry and prose, he uses the full 85 (bayt) poetry lines by the pre-Islamic warrior-poet Anter Ibn Shaddad to provide not only additional textures of meaning but also to contribute a visual embellishment to the austere single letterforms. These calligraphic shapes are rooted in the Maghribi script of his native North Africa whose first recorded use dates back to the 10th Century. While this style underpins his compositions, his improvisational adaptation of the classical forms gives his work a fresh idiom which allows his artistic voice to span traditional approaches and a more contemporary utterance.”
