The interview was published the The Boutique Magazine, an independent home grown Emirati magazine that talks about art and design among other topics of aesthetic relevance. Posting the text below for a closer read:
Interview by Archana
RD aka B’lu, an artist-journalist based in the UAE who writes on global art and
culture
The Citizen E Art Gallery curator, and one of the most important
voices in the UAE's art scene, Jalal Luqman reflects on what lies beneath the
'Art of Word' exhibition
Q. Why
the ‘Art of the word’? Please spill the inspiration to the event title and lead
us to any current/news relevant events that have had an impact.
A. When
we look at letters regardless of what language or what alphabet they relate to,
we get drawn to the phonetic association of the letter, but there is more to
it. If we look at letters, or words as images, lines, dots, curves and streaks
then we admire the visual element of it. The way a Chinese letter or word may
appear to a Chinese is different than an Indian who does not know how to read
Chinese, so the Indian enjoys the visual element of the Chinese word, and vice
versa.
Q. Could you
visualize Citizen E Gallery to become a museum of the UAE through all ages?
A. No,
Citizen E’s function is not that of a museum, Citizen E is an art gallery with
an open mind, we work with the established artists, while we support the
newcomers who want to learn, we listen when no one else wants to listen and we
help when others are to up in the sky to help the small person.
Q. How
would you curate a show that consisted of the peculiar nature of design as the
central focus of the art?
Q. What
do you consider to be your most successful shows from the previous experience?
How do you measure success?
A.
Success as a curator or a gallery is the amount of exposure the artist gets,
and how much of that exposure translates into sale. Artists like all other
humans need money to survive. Enough with the praise and the clapping. So to me
one form of success is when we have an exhibition where there are sales.
Another more philosophical politically correct answer would be, to consider the
exhibition a success if the message in the artwork helps improve the
surrounding environment, helps enrich the viewer and to elevate the art and
culture society.
Q. Is
there a natural connection between calligraphy and the art of the land?
A.
Remember way before language was ever created humans communicated through
drawings; they kept historical record of their travels, their lives and their
hunting parties, so yes calligraphy in my opinion is closely related to the
people of every land.
Q. Have
the ‘general public’ really had as much contemporary art as they can bear in
the UAE?
A.
Building an appreciation for art in the UAE is going to take a long time,
however attracting the international art love to the UAE will take much less
time. There is never enough contemporary art in the UAE, and as long as
humankind walks the earth, there will always be contemporary art. And the more
the UAE attracts it, eventually the general public will get used to it and grow
to learn about it and appreciate it.
Q. Has
the development of the emirate helped you in collecting or exhibiting?
A. Well
as an artist who started before the art revolution of the UAE I believe I had
my share of publicity locally and internationally, as a gallery it is great
because after a long track record as an artist my gallery gets credibility
based on my past experience.
Q. What
was the process of curating the current exhibition – please run us through the
story – how the idea came about? Please share if there were any special
memorable episodes this time.
A. It
was very simple. I was planning to have a calligraphy exhibition, then I
noticed that some of the hardcore calligraphers were too confined to the proper
rules and regulations associated with their art, this automatically alienated
many artists who produced beautiful artwork which had calligraphic qualities
yet did not conform to any rules (very similar to my approach to art, rules and
being 'proper'), so I did away with the rules and opened it to anything with a
word or a letter of any language and every culture, and the Art of the Word was
born.
Q. Is
there a future for such exhibitions?
A. If
we count the applications we received, then yes. They did not stop pouring - I
had to stop accepting them very soon after I announced it. However, we are yet
to see the viewer’s opinion and that will be known after the opening night.
Q. How
much influence has grass root local history/art movements contributed to your
themes and new displays?
A. I
stand at the crossroads of time, I saw the past, I see what is happening now,
and based on where I have been and where I am, I have an idea of where we are
going, and this is the reason I give particular attention the locally grown
artists. When I say the locally grown I mean all artists who are in the UAE,
who grew here and became Artists on Emirati soil, because they are the ones who
are the true historians of the land, they are the ones who’s art will tell a
true story of what happened here hundreds of years from now, yet in this new
art revolution where only the new and the foreign is appreciated the locally
grown talent will be left behind unless people like me have their back.
Q. Do you ever get negative reactions to art
in show? How do you counter art criticism?
A. When
one has spent as much time as I have in the field, you learn to pay attention
to who and what is important, remember every person has an opinion, I don’t have
time to listen to negativity - life is too beautiful to waste.
Q. When
you programme your titles, what informs the connection between the collections
and topic?
A. I
just keep it simple, something that everyone can understand and relate to.
Q. When
people read Citizen E brand name, do they too often think only of Emirati? Was
this challenging?
A. Not at all, E can
stand for Everything on Earth, Emirati or European, you make the E what Ever
you want it to be
Q.
What’s next project in the pipeline?
A. To
bring back Jalal’s Art Trip in 2017.
Q. What
would be your ideal in-gallery photography policy? How much value do you
give/associate to photo publicity/campaigns to art events.
A. We
are surrounded by snapping pictures and videos, our brains have become
accustomed to receiving thousands of images a day, unlike the old days, now we
see much more visual garbage that for us to pay attention to what is important
swiftly gets buried in our brain by a new pile of visual garbage. My ideal
photography policy would be to look at the art and not take a picture of it for
at least 15 minutes before you reach for your smart phone to click a picture of
it. Teach your memory to preserve the image of the artwork, then after you are
done you are allowed to snap away.
PS: Thank you for reading and staying inspired in art all around you!
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