Untitled

This painting is an early example of an approach that would become synonymous with Hussein Madi’s practice: that of the large-scale, abstract paintings dominated by a loose grid of repeating unit in vibrant colors. The tension between the grid and looser handmade marks that cover it reflect the artist’s decades-long interest in reconciling gestural and geometric modes of abstraction. The painting also explores the relationship of text and image, another longstanding concern informed by contemporary developments in the art world. Here, the pattern is reminiscent of abstracted, bird-like forms, a recurrent preoccupation in the artist’s works throughout the 1960s and 1980s. At the same time, the motif’s individual elements may evoke a stylized form for the word "Allah" in Arabic script. Indeed, the ambiguity inherent to the painting’s relationship to text or calligraphy, as well as to the pattern’s regularity help to define this work.