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Lot Essay
‘Form itself is complex in Nahas’s work of the late 1970s. A triangular base rises to a rectangular superstructure or a squared-away shape flattens into a plane that in its turn becomes another pyramidal volume. Nahas generates this quick flicker of form with his flair for ellipsis, compressing his geometry to the point where his lines lead double lives’.
-C. RATCLIFF, NABIL NAHAS, NEW YORK 2016, P. 23
The present early work from Lebanese artist Nabil Nahas is a stunning example of his geometric series and his experimentation in abstract form and complexity of the line. Considered extremely important in his formative artistic career, these works lay the foundation for his entire oeuvre as he explores geometrical forms and their relationship between order and disorder. Painted right after the artist completed his MFA at Yale, the work is highly reminiscent of the geometric forms of the American Abstract expressionist Al Held, one of his professors at the university, however it is uniquely different in Nahas’ ability to intertwine the Islamic culture of his childhood within his works.
Studying at Yale during a critical juncture in art history’s abstract expressionist genre inspired Nahas to articulate his painterly style within the many debates central to Abstract Expressionist circles at the time in the New York art world. It was during this time that Clement Greenberg asserted abstract painting had to be flat with an emphasis on surface, yet Nahas, following the footsteps of Held, defied the mainstream aesthetics’. Within every three-dimensional shape of Nahas’ early geometric works, correlates to a two-dimensional pattern, combining weightlessness with a sense of monumentality. As opposed to the Romanesque contours of Held, Nahas’ early paintings recall his early recollection of Islamic culture while living in Egypt and Lebanon.
In the present work, brightly coloured geometric shapes rigorously repeat themselves to infinity, bringing to mind the principles of Fractal Geometry as well as the multiplication of single patterns one finds in Islamic art. Two dimensional shapes are contorted, shifting in movement and perspective within an abstracted background. Lines intertwine within a spectrum of patterns and altering format. ‘A line never belongs to a single pyramid or cube. It is shared as shapes proliferate like embryonic cells, dividing and, in the more complex paintings, differentiating themselves. singularity becomes variety. Perspectives multiply, confronting us with a web of angles and transparent planes.’ (C. Ratcliff, Nabil Nahas, New York 2016, p. 23). His universe, where order reigns over chaos, seems to be caught between microcosm and macrocosm; it is playful and vibrant yet simultaneously, subliminal questions can be raised.
Nahas has held several solo shows in prominent New York galleries as well as in Beirut and Doha. He also participated to numerous group shows including participation at the Venice and Sao Paolo Biennials. His work appears in prestigious public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and the Flint Institute of Art, Michigan; his pieces are also a part of many private collections in the Middle East.
-C. RATCLIFF, NABIL NAHAS, NEW YORK 2016, P. 23
The present early work from Lebanese artist Nabil Nahas is a stunning example of his geometric series and his experimentation in abstract form and complexity of the line. Considered extremely important in his formative artistic career, these works lay the foundation for his entire oeuvre as he explores geometrical forms and their relationship between order and disorder. Painted right after the artist completed his MFA at Yale, the work is highly reminiscent of the geometric forms of the American Abstract expressionist Al Held, one of his professors at the university, however it is uniquely different in Nahas’ ability to intertwine the Islamic culture of his childhood within his works.
Studying at Yale during a critical juncture in art history’s abstract expressionist genre inspired Nahas to articulate his painterly style within the many debates central to Abstract Expressionist circles at the time in the New York art world. It was during this time that Clement Greenberg asserted abstract painting had to be flat with an emphasis on surface, yet Nahas, following the footsteps of Held, defied the mainstream aesthetics’. Within every three-dimensional shape of Nahas’ early geometric works, correlates to a two-dimensional pattern, combining weightlessness with a sense of monumentality. As opposed to the Romanesque contours of Held, Nahas’ early paintings recall his early recollection of Islamic culture while living in Egypt and Lebanon.
In the present work, brightly coloured geometric shapes rigorously repeat themselves to infinity, bringing to mind the principles of Fractal Geometry as well as the multiplication of single patterns one finds in Islamic art. Two dimensional shapes are contorted, shifting in movement and perspective within an abstracted background. Lines intertwine within a spectrum of patterns and altering format. ‘A line never belongs to a single pyramid or cube. It is shared as shapes proliferate like embryonic cells, dividing and, in the more complex paintings, differentiating themselves. singularity becomes variety. Perspectives multiply, confronting us with a web of angles and transparent planes.’ (C. Ratcliff, Nabil Nahas, New York 2016, p. 23). His universe, where order reigns over chaos, seems to be caught between microcosm and macrocosm; it is playful and vibrant yet simultaneously, subliminal questions can be raised.
Nahas has held several solo shows in prominent New York galleries as well as in Beirut and Doha. He also participated to numerous group shows including participation at the Venice and Sao Paolo Biennials. His work appears in prestigious public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and the Flint Institute of Art, Michigan; his pieces are also a part of many private collections in the Middle East.