+Media - The Celebration of "Al Hayy" via Alive 99 Exhibition

Through Color and Movement Art Noor Celebrates His Divine Names at Dubai Mall 

by Muhammad Yusuf,

Published on May 03, 2021

Dubai /Sharjah-based artist Art Noor’s month-long exhibition and LED show titled at Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, titled ‘Alive99, is inspired by the glorious name of Allah “Al Hayy” meaning The Living, is his tribute to that name.

Inaugurated in the beginning of Ramadan, the exhibition comprises forty of (Aslam) Art Noor’s latest paintings, which are joyous and thus made of candid and energetic strokes.

Art Noor is well known for his dedicated focus on the divine subject of the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah. He explains the theme of the ‘Alive 99’ collection thus:

“Life is a divine gift given by The Living, the Eternal. Most of the paintings in this collection are both an interpretation and a celebration of that dynamic force, which surrounds us everywhere.

“The movement and the flow of perpetual energy is what fascinates me. In these works, I attempt to engage with movement on the canvas with unpredictable randomness - a hallmark of life”.

The rhythm of life is expressed through colour harmonies and contrasts. It is a ceaseless flow. Old leaves die, new ones take their place. Emotions, passions, and vulnerabilities coexist on the canvas and across many canvases. It is an unending saga, a tiny fraction of which we experience as humans, captured on the canvas for a fleeting moment.

Being extensively displayed and advertised by the Dubai Mall inside the mall and their social media, the exhibition and the support it gets, from the management and the audience, heightens the flavour of Ramadan. It reinforces the cultural values of the region and the spiritual values encouraged by the Holy Month.

Art Noor has been a resident of the UAE since 2003. So far, he has presented eleven solo exhibitions. He has also executed more than thousand paintings during a period of sixteen years on the subject of ‘Asma ul Husna – the beautiful names and attributes of Allah’.

An established professional artist, he paints out of his studio in Sharjah Airport International Free Zone. He considers his artistic endeavor a spiritual journey to explore and connect with what is unseen but alive.  

His paintings strive to explore the ties between spirituality and art by allowing “moments to show movement” through brush strokes and choice of colour, among other things. He does not like to be confined to a predefined signature style.

“I don’t want to be a prisoner of my own making”, he said in an interview to an art critic. “I love the feeling of expectation and then reaching a place I never knew existed. It’s the journey that I cherish, since the destination is unknown”.

That is the way he keeps himself and his faith alive.

But this Ramadan Art Noor is not done with presenting his favourite subject in only one place. One location is one too less for his passion for the 99 names of Allah.

Right under the dome with starry lights at Marina Mall, Dubai, a special offering is being made by him for visitors and shoppers. You can find Art Noor here, exhibiting his works and autographing some of his much sought after books on his subject.

The specially curated collection titled ‘Sublime99’ consists of forty works, to be displayed throughout Ramadan. As ever, inspired by the beauty of Asma Ul Husna, the contemporary paintings explore divine attributes through colour, abstract expressionism and Arabic calligraphy, with an original and energising perspective.

In keeping with the spirit of giving, Art Noor is also gifting a few of his paintings to some of his social media followers during Ramadan.

“Twenty years ago”, he says, “if someone had said, you will be painting Allah’s divine names in future, I would have found it hard to believe, and for three reasons.
”First, I lacked training and discipline to work on a canvas for weeks and months. Second, I was living in New Delhi and running an advertising agency which routinely employed creative artists, but only for composing commercial advertising for television and print media.

“My only connection with painting was my friendship with some very well-known painters, and occasional visits to much sought after art events, whenever possible. Third, the chore of mixing the paints and cleaning brushes seemed out of sync with my habits and experience!”

But life, like art, can be transformed with a single stroke. It is sometimes called the defining moment. And that moment happened to Art Noor in the first month of 2003.

He remembers the time clearly. On a sabbatical to the UAE from his advertising and technological career for about a year, he would often go to Sharjah Art Museum, which was located close to his flat, to browse their small but well stocked art library.

“After one such immersive session”, he recalls, “I asked the taxi to take me to industrial area where I had noticed a bunch of carpentry shops. Once there, I ordered a hundred wooden frames in size 80 cm x 80 cm.

“On the way back, I bought forty metres of raw canvas, a box full of paints and half a dozen large sketchbooks. That was the beginning of the journey without a destination, route map or resources”. Sixteen years on, it continues.