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Art Philosophy - Ibrahim El Salahi

Like something painted on the cave walls of Lascaux — this is a work that truly taps into something primal.




Entitled “Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams” — the artist Ibrahim El Salahi has captured something more than just an abstract image here.



When we stand before this colossal canvas — we are struck by it’s sheer gravitas. The weight of it’s shadows. The sense of metamorphosis on it’s painted surface.


We become lost in these pulsating visuals — which, for a moment, may reveal to us hidden forms, or ghostly figures, or animals, or symbols . . .


But then, immediately, it is as if these forms are snatched away from us again. Like intangible memories, which never seem to last as long as we would hope.


And yet, to a certain extent, the aesthetic experience is only part of the story here. Because, though the painting stands there in silence — it is the metaphorical “sound” it has captured which truly makes this a masterpiece.


Like when we return to a former home, and hear the echoes of the life we once had here. — so too, does this piece seem to resonate with a kind of lost history.


It brings back for us that primordial call of the wild. The beat of the drum. The sound of first forged iron. The taste of the earth. The smell of smoke and dust.


And, as such, these “childhood dreams” mentioned in the title are not just from the artist himself — but, in fact, they tap into the metaphorical “childhood” of humanity as a whole. Connecting us with the collective unconscious of our prehistoric ancestors— like a spirit which still lies dormant within all of us.


We are reminded that there are layers of the human psyche which not only go beyond aesthetics — and beyond the conscious — but, also, beyond the very act of dreaming too.


And that there is this essential spirit —this inextricable link to our past, and our roots, and our shared ancestors— which only Art can capture.

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