02.
   
   
 


◼ Installations
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06.
Collages
download PDF | Composition 86
 

''Fatmi’s artwork is intricately formed from fragments of over hundred prayer rugs; their original devotional role has been rendered as null through the cutting up and re-ordering of the fabric itself.''


Sotheby's, April 2013


  • Composition 02, 05, 12
    Exhibition view from 1:54, 2018, London.
    Courtesy of the artist.

  • Composition
    Exhibition view from The Language of Human Consciousness, Athr Gallery, 2014, Jeddah.
    Courtesy of the artist.

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2023-2024, collage with prayer rugs on canvas, 50 x 50 cm.
Courtesy of the artist.
 




Manières de voir :

En 2012, Mounir Fatmi a créé une série de collages textiles intitulés Composition (numérotés 1 à 25). Utilisant des fragments de tapis de prière islamiques découpés et cousus sur une toile, chacune de ces 25 pièces représente une étude unique de la matière, la forme, la ligne et la couleur. Contrairement à certains autres travaux de collage textile de Fatmi, notamment Derrière l’arc-en-ciel ou Hommage aux chrétiens d’Orient, qui abordent des thèmes plus directement politiques, la série des Compositions reste dans l’abstraction, avec des références occasionnelles à des mouvement modernistes comme le Suprématisme ou aux formes mécaniques fluides associées à Fernand Léger.

Dans cette série, Fatmi explore la signification du terme « composition » et sa portée en tant que titre pour une œuvre d’art. Comme Mondrian qui utilisait les titres dans ses explorations de lignes et de couleurs ou Kandinsky qui reliait son travail dans l’abstraction à la musique, le titre de Composition laisse une liberté d’interprétation tout en ne laissant pas l’œuvre non-titrée, sans nom ou sans intention. Le Larousse définit la composition comme l’« action de composer, de former un tout par assemblage » et comme une « réunion ». Ici, Fatmi se penche sur le principal medium utilisé dans son œuvre, le tapis de prière. Chaque pièce est comme l’examen en détail de ce qu’il recèle ; les couleurs, les lignes, les coutures, les motifs et comment ils se répondent de manière purement formelle. Pour créer cette série, il a utilisé de nombreux morceaux de tapis inutilisés dans ses collages de plus grande dimension. Plutôt que de les jeter, Fatmi jette un œil neuf sur ces fragments et crée de nouvelles compositions apportant de nouvelles significations et interprétations.

Des cercles et demi-cercles planent à travers la toile, reléguant les autres motifs au second plan et créant une profondeur de champ surprenante pour ce matériau. Il n’y a que peu, voire pas du tout d’espace laissé blanc, le tissu coloré couvre la toile de bout en bout, à l’exception des numéros 24 et 25 dans lesquels l’imagerie, prenant la forme d’une croix (n°25) et d’un cercle (n°24), flottent dans un espace vide. On peut ressentir une forme de claustrophobie, l’impression qu’il n’y a pas d’issue, chaque morceau s’imbriquant dans les autres sans espace pour reposer ses yeux. Mais décomposer ce medium en fragments apporte une nouvelle façon d’envisager ces pièces. Des formes de croissant, des cercles aux gradations de couleurs, des rayures, branches et feuilles interagissent les uns avec les autres d’une façon complètement déconnectée de leur composition originale en tant que tapis de prière, et il n’y a plus d’esthétique proprement islamique ou arabe à voir. Certaines parties pourraient même évoquer des tissus de l’époque de Louis XIV.

La série Composition traite du besoin de mélanger les choses afin de pouvoir reconstruire. Les nouvelles idées et les nouvelles possibilités n’émergent que lorsqu’elles s’affranchissent des contraintes des significations prédéterminées. Qu’il s’agisse de tapis de prière ou de politique, il est impossible d’avancer sans regarder les structures globales et se demander par moments s’il n’y aurait pas une autre façon de réexaminer comment tout cela fonctionne.


Blaire Dessent, 2017.

Traduit de l'anglais par Patrick Haour.

 

  

Ways of Seeing:

In 2012 Mounir Fatmi made a series of textile collages titled, Composition (Numbers 1-25). Using fragments of cut up Muslim prayer rugs sewn onto canvas, each of the 25 pieces in this series are unique studies into material, form, shape, line and color. Unlike some of the other textile collage works by Fatmi, including Behind the Rainbow or Homage to Eastern Christians, which are more directly political in theme, the Composition series remains firm in its abstraction with occasional references to modernist movements such as Suprematism or the slick, mechanical forms associated with Fernand Leger.

In this series of work, Fatmi explores the meaning of the term composition and its significance as a title for a work of art. Like Mondrian who used the title in his explorations into color and line or Kandinsky who linked his work into abstraction with music, the title composition leaves an openness for interpretation yet it is not left untitled or without a name or without intention. Oxford Dictionaries partly defines composition as “the nature of something’s ingredients or constituents; the way in which a whole or mixture is made up;” and as “the act of putting things together; formation or construction.” Here, Fatmi makes an investigation into the principal medium used to make this body of work, the prayer rug. Each piece is like an examination of the details found within; the colors, lines, stitching, patterns, and motifs, and how they relate to each other in a purely formal way. In constructing this series, he used many of the discarded pieces of rug that were not used in the larger collage works. Rather than throw them away, Fatmi takes a second look at the fragments, creating new compositions and bringing new meanings and interpretations.

Circles and semi-circles hover across the canvas, pushing other patterns into the background, creating a depth of field surprising for this material. There is rarely, if ever, any white space, the colorful textile fragments cover the canvas from edge to edge, with the exception of #25 and #24, in which the imagery, in the form of a cross (#25) and a circle (#24), float in an empty space. There can be a sense of claustrophobia at times, a sense of no exit, with each piece merging into the next with no place to rest the eye. Breaking down this medium into its parts offers a new way of thinking about them. Crescent shapes, circles with a gradation of color, stripes, branches, and leaves interact with each other in ways that offer no connection to their original composition as a prayer rug, and there is not an explicitly Islamic or Arabic aesthetic anymore. Some of the imagery could recall fabrics from the era of Louis XIV.

The Composition series is about the need to mix things up in order to reconstruct and rebuild. New ideas and possibilities only come about when breaking away from the confines of predetermined meanings. Whether prayer rugs or politics, it’s impossible to advance anywhere without looking at the overarching structures and occasionally asking whether there is another way to reexamine how it all functions.


Blaire Dessent, 2017.