“Loyalty” – Contemporary Calligraphy Works by Alibaba Awrang and Salman Ali Uruzgani at The Sherman Library

The Sherman Library is pleased to announce the next art show: “Loyalty”- Contemporary Calligraphy Works by Master Calligraphers Alibaba Awrang and Salman Ali Uruzgani . These paintings present a contemporary reality of a traditional art form.  By marrying text (intertwined letters and words) with images, these master calligraphers bring the past to the present. The show is on display at the Sherman Library until November 16, 2024 both at the Library and on their website, www.ShermanLibrary.org. 

Traditional Persian calligraphy is the art of giving form to symbols and sounds in an expressive, fluid, harmonious, and balanced manner. This ancient art form focuses on elegance and historical style. For centuries, Persian calligraphy served as a mirror for mystical and literary teachings.

Awrang’s contemporary calligraphy reflects this tradition but is abstract in nature, and meant to be expressive in its effect.  He is inspired by his experience, as well as the ancient Sufi poets, who write of basic human emotions (e.g., from love and joy to pain and sadness).  His work attempts to speak to the soul. It is intended to invite meditation, reflection. While the script embedded in his paintings might be in Persian or Arabic or

English (his new language), the emotions speak to people of all languages.

His process is like collage, ranging from four to eight layers in which the script and images are intertwined gracefully. He starts with a letter or a word without knowing where it will take him, often getting lost in the layers and surprised by the final work. His materials include Japanese ink, watercolors, acrylic paint, gold and silver leaf applied with bamboo pens and brushes to paper, canvas or wood.  He has also included some needlework by his wife, Gulziwar Awrang.

Born in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan in 1972, Alibaba Awrang was educated by the Iranian Calligraphy Association and received a  Bachelor of Calligraphy, Shiraz, Iran (1992), and a Master of Calligraphy, Tehran, Iran, 2019. He owned and managed an art studio and gallery (Negar Khana Rang) in Ghazni and Kabul, Afghanistan, 2010-2021. He has taught painting and calligraphy in my own institute in Kabul, on television and online. (See YouTube). Alibaba Awrang has been Chairman, Afghanistan Calligraphy Association, Member of the Supreme Executive Council of the Association, 2005-2006, and Head of the Department of Calligraphy and Miniature Painting, Turquois Mountain Institute, Kabul, Afghanistan, 2017-2022. He was recognized by the President of Afghanistan as a leading Afghan calligrapher, 2017. In 2021 Awrang was evacuated by the U.S. Department of State, and resettled in Litchfield, CT in 2022.  His artwork has been displayed in galleries worldwide. 

The second featured master calligraphy artist is Salman Ali Uruzgani.  He has a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts and graphic arts at Islamic Azad University of Iran, 1999 and a Bachelor of Calligraphy, Tehran, Iran 1985.  Recognized by the President of Afghanistan as a leading Afghan calligrapher in 2017, he has created hundreds of works in the fields of calligraphy, painting, caricature and graphic design, designing logos, posters, book covers, and more. Salman Ali Uruzgani has taught painting and calligraphy in galleries and schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan and was the head of the office of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan in Daikundi province, 2005.  He was also the Director of Publications of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan, Kabul, 2009, and the Director of the Afghan Calligraphers Association, 2010. He has set up 14 individual exhibitions and participated in 20 group calligraphy exhibitions inside and outside the country.  He continues to reside in Afghanistan.  Due to health issues, he is represented in the United States by his friend, Alibaba Awang.

For more information about this show and the Sherman Library, visit: www.shermanlibrary.org. The Sherman Library is open Tues, Wed & Friday 11 – 6, Thursday 11-7, Sat 10-4