Artist Statement

Adnan Razvi’s Abstract Calligraffiti forms act as the base layer for his exploration of cultural displacement and migration. His abstract motifs on first glance may recall ancient letters or text, yet serve as a visual tool only without any verbal connotation. Adnan reclaims the ancient cultural forms, revealing the viewer’s assumptions and sharing the sense of loss of language wrought by displacement. His transmogrified forms are parallel to loss of language due to being displaced from home and origin. As a painter whose practice is built upon displacement, his work addresses how to challenge what we traditionally associate and identify with cultural/ancestral iconography. As colors are pulled, he is drawn to tones and messages of his ancestry. Through doing this he provides a bridge and linkage to his diaspora. Forcing viewers to re-investigate what they normally assume, he seeks to abstract these forms while keeping them naturally synchronous. Vibrant futurism energy and archaic script meld seamlessly further narrating a generation’s loss of identity and displacement. Through the removal of language, the message is placed in the flow and transformation of the script. Currently he works large scale, finding the enveloping feeling of massive motifs emotionally evoking.