An Itinerary
is the title of two exhibitions of works by the great artist Dia Al-Azzawi to allow European collectors to see how rich is his production since 50 years. The works are coming directly from his personal collection and most of them are exhibited for the first time in a gallery.
Corneille. Encounters with the works of Dia Azzawi, Paris, June 1981.
3. Birds in a red Sky: after a very hot day, the sky has suddenly burst into flames. Some birds fly frantically across it, seeking the velvet blackness of a distant, becalmed night. The strength which emanates from this recent diptych is created by the contrast of the expanse of black with the vivid, glowing red which answers it. The plastic language which the artist has forged for himself has here achieved a true plastic density. One quality in the collection of forms which he offers to our view is a new and intense magnificence of colour; little by little writing and letters are disappearing. He is constantly finding new and successful arrangements for the grouping of forms, so that he includes us in his excitement.
Out of this shimmer of colours comes forth, as it were, a chant; the harsh, fervent voice of the Bedouin in the desert. A human voice, beautiful as the voice of his friend Sadi. An authentic voice which tells of the pure, harsh existence of the Bedouins, the nomads, the Iraqi peasants, of their piety, their superstitions and their highest aspirations.
And, too, Azzawi’s paintings make us think of Oriental carpets, masterpieces of patience, charged with symbols and meanings. For the man or woman who looks at the artist’s paintings, the glow and beauty of his colours are not only invitations to visual enjoyment. - Behind the architecture of forms and colours with their rhythmic and musical resonances hides a man who speaks of his country - or, rather, sings of it. Our eyes must listen to him.
