Yemeni Contemporary Art: Building On The Past

The Yemeni House of Culture in Sanaa has the exhibition of the Yemeni artist Hani Ali Mohammed Al-Akbar which received high market both from Yemeni and foreign visitors. Unlike Yemeni contemporary art, the art of Yemeni artist Hani Ali Mohammed AlAkbari, is as rich as it should be. It partakes of past splendor, dazzling formats, delicate threads, and messages abound. The Yemeni theme in his works is the influence of traditional forms, substance, balance and design.

Hani is eager to draw upon the land, the Yemeni land, and the Yemeni experience as his format. It is the land itself, the timeless Yemeni land, that insistently demand recording. Perhaps because one knows that tomorrow, it will not look exactly the same – yet will always be there. Certainly the land, and the dramatic way the sun plays with the land, are always inspiring. There is a search to continuity from yesterday to today, that too takes many forms.

The format of color and basic geometric design, is developed into the shapes and simple combinations. Then there is grace, an all-powerful force. Grace by itself is form without content. Grace is moonlight on the water, not the sunlight at noon. Yet grace in Hanis artwork brings artistic expression into the world. It is the grace that enhances the quality of our lives. Here it seems as if grace arises out of adherence to form and the artist is becoming one with brush and canvas. In human affairs, grace is aligned with form, with mastery of aesthetic and cultural forms honored by time and honored by traditions. Through appreciation of graceful forms in human culture, we apprehend the pure beauty of the ideal of life raised above the mere struggle for survival.

Care and lending the grace to dignity of small matters, while giving the weight of deep and careful consideration to matters of greater consequence. The artwork of Yemeni artist Hani Ali Mohammed Al_Akbari is a testimony to the vitality of Yemeni contemporary art today.