On Taking the Contour Off Human Life

Hokusai attempted to create the ultimate artwork, and far from being satisfied with his achivements himself, yet he created the archetype of the sea, of movement and of danger in the one and same take.

Hamid Suleiman has by way of Hokusai transformed the now of war, of fleeing, the callous sailors and those desperate for safety. All the more painful for not including a wave. Only the suggestion of it in the sinking boat with the foam of humans in peril:

Hamid Sulaiman, Refugees' boat waiting for The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 

mixed media on paper, September 20, 2014

Hamid Sulaiman employs the effects of a wooden print, such as the slightly zigzaggy waving lines and the fuzzy outlines of the ink as if caused from the soft wood. And then he does anything but of what we expect. 

There is no thick contour to go with it. On the contrary his works are next to contourless. This is what makes the Refugees' boat so very menacing to behold. It is hardly there and all the more so for being humans in utmost danger, exposed as they are to a space which aims at dissolution. In fact the only defined one, is the disguised one. In direct oppostion to the unmistakable movement of youth, distant too as a fading memory: 

Hamid Sulaiman, drawing from the Brainwash project, ink on paper, May 16, 2014.

The artworks shown are courtesy of Hamid Sulaiman and must not reproduced without his permission.