The School of Architecture, Art and Design’s Visual Communication (VC) Department at The American University in Dubai (AUD) hosted recently an exhibition entitled, “Taming the Line,” ensued by a lecture, both presented by artist Mohamed Danawi, Professor of Illustration at the Savannah College of Art And Design, Georgia, USA.

The exhibition featured 16 posters, which comprised personal themes and promotions, (commissions), for a variety of events, such as the Savannah Music Festival, all of which possessed a lively use of colour while reflecting humour. “This is my art, you are looking at it. I’m hoping it makes you smile. It’s about the boldness of the line, the elegance of the stroke, the economy of colours. It’s about simple shapes, oddities and humour. It’s about ideas,” comments Danawi.

The workshop that followed tackled digital watercolor techniques where students had an interactive session with Danawi who attended to their queries. The exhibition was arranged as part of the Gallery Management course, offered at AUD for the first time. On the importance of offering the Gallery Management course at AUD, Julia Townsend, Associate Professor of Visual Communication and Curator of the Exhibition asseverates, “This could be the most important course a student takes at AUD, as it will later pave the way for students to volunteer at Art Dubai, and make important contacts that could even lead to an internship or their first employment. Even if they aim to be a practicing artist, not a gallery manager, this gives them insight into the business and what they can expect.”

On his own perception of the concept of illustration, Danawi explains: “Illustration as visual communication must include two essential ingredients to work. Form + Function, Image+ Idea, Design+ Concept, Aesthetic + Message; different words for essentially the same meaning. A good design will attract you, seduce you, capture you and arrests you. But it’s only skin deep. A clever concept touches your soul. It provokes you, intimidates you, empowers you, or simply makes you smile. Design needs a concept; otherwise, it’s just a pretty image that could soon be forgotten. A concept needs a design; otherwise, it will not be understood or will simply be ignored. The most powerful illustrations are the ones that possess both; a visual harmony and pure synchronicity between both ingredients.

Inspiring the students, Danawi concludes: “I strive to be concise. I want to be clear, to be sharp. I like to say it like it is. I dislike subtleties and I stay away from cluttered visual information. Simplicity is beautiful; it’s pure, powerful, and memorable. It demands your attention. Purity, simplicity, boldness and honesty, that’s what I’m aiming for when I draw.”

Townsend describes the overall students’ learning experience with Danawi asserting: “The students really love his work. They respond to his sense of humour and bold colours. This is also an opportunity for them to work with a very experienced Professor from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He brings years of experience in the field of illustration, and is a member of the jury of several prestigious national and international illustration competitions. They have been involved in everything from gallery layout, scheduling, communications with the artist, and publicity.”

Jetshri Bhadviya, student in Gallery Management, Studio Art Major at AUD, and a recent winner in the Sheikha Manal Art Competition, reflects on such an educational experience stating: “Putting up a Art Show for the first time and acting as Art Curators was a very crazy and enjoyable experience. It was wonderful to coordinate with Mr. Danawi himself. Putting up his work was fun as his works are very interesting. Even though they are simple, they convey a lot. I really love the way how he very carefully presents social and political facts with humour, and brings about such inspiring illustrations.”

As for Veronica Bortolin, student in Gallery Management, Advertising Major, she emphasizes: “Initially putting up an exhibition for the first time was a chaos, however we managed very well. This first-hand experience was very intriguing because of the amazing works of Danawi. His works are so humorous yet very conceptual and that is what kept us interested in putting up the show. Even though there is a big generation difference between the artist and us, we still feel connected to his works and it inspires me.”

The element of entertainment in the artist’s illustrations was also highly commended by Associate Professor of Visual Communication at AUD, Sarah Lahti, who describes the former’s work as, “playful, entertaining, engaging, and fun. The artists’ creation of lifelike characters really fills the space nicely,” she concludes.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 at 1:34 am and is filed under COMMUNITY, Events . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.