IAIA Provides an Oasis for New Yorkers in Search of Islamic Art
The intimate gallery in the back of New York's Institute of Arab and Islamic Art is currently home to a show titled "Six Landscapes," which seeks to interrogate how the use of film and photography “further evolve the field of painting."
Both of the artists involved in IAIA's "Six Landscapes" exhibit set out to “conjure their own histories” by drawing inspiration from photographs or memories of a location.
There aren’t many spaces dedicated to Islamic Art across New York City’s five boroughs. A quick Google search will lead you straight to the Metropolitan’s Islamic Art section, which I visited and reviewed last month. The second search result takes you to the Institute of Arab and Islamic Art (IAIA).
I visited IAIA on a cold day in early February, taking the L train from Brooklyn to Manhattan and walking downtown from the 14th Street and Seventh Avenue subway stop, passing the stomping grounds of many different past Sheherzads as I made my way towards Christopher Street. Christopher Street and the surrounding West Village comprises an area that boasts many queer historical landmarks, from the Stonewall Inn to Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment from “Sex and the City” (1998–2004).
IAIA is tucked into a nondescript building just off Gay Street. The front of the space is home to a shop with beautiful, Islam-inflected textiles, art books and other goods. The intimate gallery in the back is currently home to a show titled "Six Landscapes," which has recently been extended through April.
Curated by Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani, “Six Landscapes” features six paintings, as well as a small collection of prints and drawings, by Lebanese American artist Daniele Genadry and American artist Matt Saunders; Saunders is the first non-Muslim, non-Arab to have art featured at IAIA. The exhibition seeks to interrogate how the use of film and photography “further evolve the field of painting,” as both Genadry and Saunders “conjure their own histories” by drawing inspiration from photographs or memories of a location.
Genadry’s paintings are gorgeous pastel-colored treats, using incredibly meticulous pointillism to create larger images. She paints both from photography as well as her own memory, using pointillism to reflect how images and light are ever-evolving, demanding her viewers to change how they look at her paintings and experience time in order to fully grasp the images she wishes to convey. I found Genadry’s use of color and texture delightful, almost fizzing off the canvases. They bring to mind the early Madonna song “Dear Jessie,” which boasts the lyrics “pink elephants and lemonade;” they present what I feel to be an almost utopian view of endless mountainous peaks.
Standing in direct opposition to Genadry’s pieces, Saunders’ works are much darker in appearance. Saunders mostly paints from moving imagery, in the hopes of interrogating the way images “take on new meanings by reassessment of their traditional iconography” depending on how they exist throughout history. Interestingly, Saunders paints on linen and shines light through it in order to create what he calls an “exposure” onto photo paper. The results are stunning, complex images evocative of deep, dark woods. The paintings have an almost hypnotic quality to them, sucking in viewers.
Both Genadry’s and Saunders’ pieces seek to understand the relationship between photography and painting, and IAIA attempts to “examine the profound impact a subtle change can have on a singular image.” I would argue that IAIA does a great job of doing just that, presenting two very different artists’ works and what results when each interrogates what happens as they work in painting, photography and videography.
Sheherzad is a freelance writer and artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Most of her work revolves around what it was like growing up Muslim in post-9/11 America.
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