SPOTLIGHT - NJA MAHDAWI

Nja Mahdaoui is one of the most celebrated living contemporary artists from tunisia in the world. His bold and highly rhythmic work, derived from the arabic letter, is internationally renowned and can be found in ther permanent collections of The British Museum, The Smithsonian Institution, Ohsaki Museum... Nja has been Jury member and Honor guest at many international events and biennales and he is a member at the International Jury member for the Arts Prize of UNESCO. He has received a number of prices and international awards. He lives and works in Tunisia.

Nja Mahdaoui is a visual artist, an explorer of signs. He has been portrayed as a ‘Choreographer of Letters’. His work inspired by Arabic calligraphy is remarkably innovative as the aesthetic dimension of letters brings forth a sense of the poetic – highly rhythmic – arresting us with its rich abstracts compositions. Thus, the concept beyond the works reveals how the ideas are conveyed creatively through the artist choice of materials and medium. He plays with tunisian cultural traditions, such as fabric arts, are arich source ofinspiration.

Nja participated in numerous exhibitions worldwide including at the Heritage Museum in St Petersburg, the National Museum of Scotland and the Modern Art Museum in Bagdad, only to mention a few. In addition he took part in Art Projects, introducing his work in performing art within the framework of dance. He designed monumental art work such as the airport in Jeddah and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and Gulf Air aircrafts. Besides, his works are presented in international art fairs in Basel, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Thanks to this rare artistic style, he manages to produce a variety of innovative works that evoke both tradition and modernism, constantly evolving, products of meticulous attention to detail and skilful mastery of the brush. Nja Mahdaoui see text as an intricate part of composition, carefully balancing language with visual form. In so doing, he creates a rhythmic, even melodic, flow that unites the detailed calligraphy with forms and colors.

His work isbased on the shapes associated with Kufic script butdevoid of actual textual meaning. Famous for his meticulous work in ink onparchment, Mahdaoui stresses the visual impact of his compositions, which herefers to as 'calligrams' ('beautiful writing'). He has found the process liberating, being free from the
confines of two-dimensional space.

It’s an exuberance of abstract patterns and caligraphy artwork, a visual melody played out of his hand, that remind us of the great gestural and physical richness of action painting. Famous for his meticulous inks on parchment, this “liberated calligraphy” is worked across medias from canvas, brass, wood and papyrus to skin.

http://www.nja-mahdaoui.com/