Zuhdi Sardar's Artwork

REVIEW: Zuhdi Sardar's Creative Evolution Exhibition - By Amir Sharifi

High Studio Fine Art Gallery in Moor Park is presenting “Creative Evolution” by the renowned Kurdish artist, Zuhdi Sardar. The gallery has put on display Sardar’s works from the Creative Evolution series completed in 1980’s. These paintings created on and through the medium of fiberglass, resin, and pigments represent the evolution of Sardar’s art through visual, conceptual, and philosophical explorations of merging art, history, and science with the interface of visual representation of text and textual representations of visual elements through the dynamic and shifting semiotic interaction of changes in form and content. The artist guides us in and through multiple mystic dreams, visions and mysterious times. The spiritual journey emerges from and extends into different epochs, each defined by an underlying metamessage. The multiplicity and multilayeredness of the media used compel viewers to enact different roles as readers of now clear and then enigmatic texts and as viewers of pure visual forms embedded in and emerging from the cacophony of colors, lingering, bleeding, blossoming, dripping, vibrating, and blending into one another in and across rivers of colors that flow into and from each work; the form of each painting constitutes and is constituted by a unified whole. The artist does not hide the fact that he intends to convey and indeed succeeds in transmitting a particular message both through his inscriptions, the paintings themselves, and his reflections on the nature and purpose of his work. To my delight, Hannah, one of my twin daughters traced the human evolution from primates, lightly sketched in one of the elemental paintings, a Darwinian evolution that corresponds with the artist’s subtle representation of the evolution into and through art. The choice of colors is not random, but obsessively picked and executed in the recurrent kaleidoscope of geometrical patterns and curves superimposed and representing different historical epochs in the fundamental evolution of art. A color while resonating with other colors dominates each painting, highlighting the theme of that period.

Each color signifies a theme. For example, green signifies climax, red, rebellion, purple, temptation, and blue, decline. Each stage in turn corresponds with the representational evolutionary process and the activity of art. The first stage, the hallmark of which is cave art, is followed by the rise and flourishing of Renaissance, which heralds enlightened abstractionism, ironically resulting in chaos, confusion, conflict, and decadence represented in sprawling aloof bodies afloat in the immense void, absurdity, and nothingness. As each period approaches the contemporary times, the cacophony of colors becomes less and the colors remain in shallow depths. This evolutionary journey and reawakening is resumed in the Start when rebellion and climax defy vanity and welcome the quest for eternal love, peace, and global understanding. Indeed these unframed works reframe art as the only creative force that can save us from decline and a tragic end.

The author Amir Sharifi PhD is the President of the Kurdish American Education (KAES)

This is the most critical time in the history of mankind. In two or three generations we will exhaust all the natural resources on the planet. Global warming, which humans caused along with the current trend regarding green house gas emissions will result in flooding, drought, starvation, disease and viruses that will wipe out many parts of the planet. These changes in human behavior will destroy the world population as we know it. That’s a very grim picture, but it’s not too late to change things. We have come a long way in our learning experiences, but yet it’s not enough to answer the many questions that we have. Thirty five years ago I came up with the answer. It can take us to one to several hundred years to come up with the answer, that is, if we survive that long. First we have to evolve from this Dark Age by pointing out what we are doing wrong. Unfortunately, the diverse human opinion for whatever their motivations are makes them incapable to come up with the right decisions because of too much diversity and adversity in human thinking. Let’s take a little walk in a dark night and look up at the Milky Way. Billions and billions of bright stars are looking at us. Beyond our galaxy there are millions more stretched out to the ends of our universe. For me, that doesn’t end there. There is the possibility for an infinite number of universes. I call that the ‘Infiniverse’. Thus, there is the possibility for millions of planets and life forces like us that are far more or less advanced than us. Artists represent some of those who embody high levels of creativity. For me, as an artist, I look up to a great Creative Force that has reached a stage of perfection. For me, this is my mentor and the great creator. Let us explore what qualities, this type of essence has. My opinion is that the following qualities are the epitome of evolution:

1.       Being capable of love, which means being able to have a total understanding of   everything. This is when love becomes the foundation for peace.

2.       Being honest.

3.       Seeing others as you want them to see you.

4.       Keeping the fragile balance of their environment and respecting all the elements in it.

5.       Resolve their differences with dialogue and communication rather than war and destruction.

6.       Abandon greed since greed is gravitates to the material world and hence, one loses spirit.

These are just a few of my thoughts and I hope others can create more. We shall re-examine ourselves and apply those good and righteous qualities so we can continue our journey.

Below are some of the art pieces that are on display! We hope to see you there!