Arabesque Figure Drawings

12 drawings · Charcoal pencil on Canson paper, one with ink wash · 11 × 14 inches each

In Arabesque Figure Drawings, the fluidity of the charcoal line allows bodily contour and Arabic script to share a compositional rhythm. Broad, unfilled letterforms cross the figure, interrupting its outline and carrying its gesture across the page. The paper showing through the letters belongs as much to the word as to the body, as it shifts the distinction between figure and ground.. Across the series, the image takes on the cadence of writing, while the script acquires the familiarity and mystery of a bodily gesture.