Indian ink

Ingredients

Indian ink, acrylic painting

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The ink strokes are manipulated and composed in an innovative manner, utilizing distinguishable character in the handwriting (p. 57). The strokes mimic the visual form of Arabic without recognizable letters or pattern (p. 57). The execution is described as precise, meticulous, and detailed on a technical level (p. 68).

Evidence

"Mahdaoui’s work Calligramm on Papyrus (2004, Indian ink and acrylic painting on papyrus, 60 x 60 cm) is representative of his calligraphic hand and his series works using ink and papyrus."

Remarks

In 'Calligramm on Papyrus', the black ink imitates the motion of Arabic text but lacks semantic content, creating a tension between text and image (p. 58). The layout is reminiscent of a Qur’anic manuscript, using delineations between rows and varying text sizes that historically indicated commentary (p. 59). Mahdaoui's work is described as 'total art' designed to speak to a global audience (p. 57).