Wow. These guys are amazing. I love most of their stuff, and the best part is it’s very reasonably priced: 50-150 pounds for a canvas! The closest thing I’ve seen to this is Amin Gulgee’s work, and that’s obviously in a different price spectrum.
I wish I could just put up some of their images here, but that would be a disservice to them, so scoot on over to http://visualdhikr.com/main.html and check it out for yourself. The photography is interesting, but it’s the artwork that just blew me away. It looks like they’re still setting up the website, so sections like ‘Outlandish Artwork’ and printed t-shirts aren’t up yet. I’m definitely going to be a customer when they become available.
I can’t remember the last time I was so completely thrilled by a website. Not only is this a wonderful channel for creativity, it’s a throwback to the glory days of Islam. Indeed, our accomplishments in math and science are relatively well-noted, but the uniquely tolerant culture the khalifahs fostered was special in the place it reserved for art: as an affirmation of Allah’s glory, and an expression of devotion. Many people are aware, for example, that all woven carpets and jai-namazes produced by Muslims have always featured only geometric shapes since depicting living creatures is considered disrespectful; less well known is the fact that all woven carpets produced by Muslims deliberately feature at least one imperfection, to remind us that, unlike Allah, we are not perfect.
The website’s beautifully put together (though a little heavy on the Flash — Linux users will cringe), and these guys seem to have a high standard for what they’re doing, MashAllah. I really hope they find great success in this venture, InshAllah.
I found an interview with Ruh al-’Alam, one of the founding artists that’s also an interesting read. (Incidentally, while googling, I also found the Islamic Artists Society blog, which looks pretty interesting. I didn’t know about MuslimFest 2006, an arts and entertainment festival that looks very cool.)
I know where you got this from, but is it true? I was always under the impression they were making too big a deal of it….
Umm…yeah you could be right. Though I don’t find it hard to believe, except maybe in the case of modern machine-woven carpets…