Published Date: March 26, 2008
By Hassan A. Bari, Staff Writer
Poetry is absolutely the most profound form of literature that expresses the most minute and delicate human feelings. To be gifted in poetry and able to express such feelings is wonderful and artistic. But to combing both forms of Art , mastering the use of colors as well as the written word, is absolutely out of this world.
This was my reaction upon entering into Kuwait Art Association (KAA)'s gallery to witness the opening of a personal art exhibition 'The Gift 2008' for the Kuwaiti artist, poet and English literature professor, Dr. Shurooq Amin. The exhibition opened Sunday, March 23, 2008 under auspices of the minister of Social Affairs and labor, Jamal Al-Shehab and with presence of KAA chairman and artist Abdel Rasoul Salman, KAA members, art lovers and the media. The exhibition will be on until March 31.
Dr. Amin is an Anglophone poet, an artist with five previous successful solo art exhibitions, a certified interior decorator, a university professor and the head of the English Language Unit at the College of Business Administration, Kuwait University. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing. She has lectured on poetry and writing at AUK. She has written and published many poems and short stories that have, along with her paintings, appeared in various literary and artistic journals. She is also a member of ma
ny arts and literary societies in Kuwait, UK, USA and Asia. She was the first Kuwaiti to be nominated for a Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2007 for her poem "Framboise Fig and Bronze Nude". She has participated in many exhibitions in Kuwait and abroad starting to develop a passion for art and displaying her works in public at the age of ten.
When initially entering the exhibition, a visitor can be dazzled by the romantic atmosphere created by a collection of Dr. Amin's 'poetic' paintings, the candles and the charming sentimental music played in the background. All the paintings showed various feminine dreams and concerns brilliantly and poetically painted in magnificent colors grading from inside out and from dark to light in a charming eye-catching style. Women in Dr. Amin's paintings represent the deepest feelings rather than the exact ou
tside figure of feminine physical build or structure, which further deepens and reinforces viewers involvement and experience of the same feeling. She has portrayed women while dreaming, anticipating, reflecting , mediating, starting a new life , waiting and throughout many other life stages.
In an exclusive statement to Kuwait Times, Dr. Amin started by explaining that the 'Gift' she meant on choosing the exhibition's title did not simply mean a present. 'It rather means talent or a blessing bestowed on us by Allah like a push ahead that helps us stand up tall in times of distress and carry on with our lives', she elaborated pointing out that women concerns dominated the paintings on display at her sixth solo exhibition. 'All paintings represent women struggle through history. It is true that
life has changed, women in Kuwait have recently won their political rights and many of them have marveled in assuming leading positions. Nevertheless, women, particularly in the Arab region, still have their concerns and worries in balancing between their household obligations and their careers; in achieving goals, in creativity, in freedom to express themselves and intellectually and artistically develop', she added.
Further, Dr. Amin remarked that one of her paintings titled 'The Seven Stages of Women' represented the tradition and value-imposed restrictions Arab women faced on various stages of their lives until they grow more self-confident.
Referring to the technique she used, Dr. Amin stressed that she used the 'knife-painting' technique where she squeezes pure oil colors right out of color tubes onto a knife that she then used in making her paintings. 'It is not an easy task, particularly when dealing with minute details and the pure colors might seem a little bit childish', she noted pointing out that she had been using knife-painting for eight years.
Dr. Amin added that the style dominating her exhibition was a 'figurative expressionism' one where abstract figures or the outlines of a human body were used to express a certain idea or feeling without focusing on the body's minute details. She also commented on the size of her paintings noting that they varied and unintentionally developed from smaller to larger ones in accordance to the development of the ideas inspiring them.
Responding to a question about her favorite painting on the exhibition, Dr. Amin typically answered that they were all so dear to her, but she remarked that 'The Klimt Woman' painting was the most favorite one. 'The technique of Gustav Klimt, an Austrian Artist who was also a figurative expressionist, inspired me on this particular painting and that's why I named it after him', she concluded.
Commenting on Amin's works, KAA chairman Abdul Rasoul Salman stressed that her new experience is a clear tendency towards the depth and integrity of the human soul using very thick and degrading colors to convey a certain dream to viewers. 'She successfully developed and out-excelled her own style by reflecting the charm of formative art deep within on her canvas', he said pointing out that though ladies were integral constituents of her paintings, they magnificently 'rhymed' with the whole painting givi
ng women more universal and romantic aspects and dimensions that catch viewers' eyes and carry them far beyond the limits of their own imagination. (Kuwait Times)
