Exploring Sufi’s Mystical Journey During Art Dubai

ACROSS DUBAI, UAE - March 4, 2014 - PRLog -- Dubai, UAE, 12 Feb 2014: Pro Art Gallery, the gallery that celebrates innovative and cutting edge art in the Middle East, is set to host a new exhibition titled “Spirituality in Motion”, which will showcase artworks by renowned contemporary Iranian artist Hossein Irandoust. The exhibition is the second edition of a sold out show that was held at the gallery last year exploring the essence of the mystical dimension of Islam and Sufism practice that is depicted in paintings.

“We were overwhelmed with the response from the first exhibition last year and we kept receiving continuous calls to acquire more works by Hossein Irandoust as there is something spiritual about his minimal use of colors. His paintings are filled with vivid expressions.” said Tatiana Faure, Director of Pro Art Gallery.

Sufism flourished and spread throughout the Islamic caliphate state. It is defined as a science through which one can know how to travel into the presence of the divine by turning away ones heart to nothing but Allah. One of the most important doctrines of Sufism is the “Perfect Man” – a man who is the absolute channel that embraces the divine presence by surrendering one’s self - and denying the ego in front of god”; a definition that appears to be the opposite of Friedrich Nietzsche’s perception of the “Upper Man”. Irandoust has captured in his paintings the whirling, gathering and intense meditation of a Sufi, thus transforming into a broken presence in a higher state of trance, and stripped from all worldly desires.

As with many young painters, Irandoust experimented with many styles and various mediums. He has evolved from painting in the realist style, which developed into a unique style of his own. His paintings hold a minimalistic indication that is influenced by his grandfather’s Chinese culture, in parallel to  a simplistic whisper of mystical philosophy that was embraced by renowned Persian poets and philosophers.

The conversions of these diverse yet similar ancient ideological movements are clearly apparent in Irandoust’s latest Darvish series. His work can be found in numerous private and public collections including The British Museum in London.

The exhibition will open for the public on Wednesday 12 March2014, and will run till 30 March 2014, at Pro-Art Gallery located in the Palm Strip Mall on Jumeirah Beach Road.