“You can’t begin too soon to encourage an appreciation of art! And each artwork has a story.”
“Baba” is the Arabic word used for “Dad, or Grandpa”. Hence, this Baba has enthusiastically started to introduce his two grandkids to some of the art that he has collected for over the years from around the world. And each artwork has a story!
The first presentation to the grandkids was about this mystical contemporary painting by the artist Dorian Haqmoun. Dorian is a Sufi, who has lived in Zanzibar, off the coast of East Africa, since 2012, where he moved to help start a school for orphans and children from disadvantaged families. About his artwork, Dorian says, “My most recurring theme is the gate. I am deeply drawn to the arches, gates and passages seen in mosques and other buildings of the Islamic world. The gate has a deeper meaning for me: it is a passage between an outer and an inner space, a doorway leading into a world that can only be imagined. The quiet realm of colour in my paintings is filled with the sound of unheard music."
Before moving to Zanzibar, Dorian lived in Cairo, Egypt, which is where we met him. He participated in the early CARAVAN exhibitions, in which this painting was a part.
This particular painting (a nod to the Russian-American painter Mark Rothko) is titled “The Road Ahead” (Acrylics on wood, 80 x 80 cm), which Dorian painted in 2012, just after the Egyptian Revolution, referring to the question of what the future held for Egypt, as so much was unknown at that time.
For more info on Dorian Haqmoun, see: https://dorianhaqmoun.mozello.com/
