Mohamed Taman

C H E M I C A L R E AC T I O N

M O H A M M E D TA M A N

Opening Reception 1st November 2015 Exhibition 1st November - 21st November 2016

MOHAMMED TA M A N

This exhibition entitled “Raas Balady M’aa Asal Eswed “ is considered to be a documentary process to a transitional period of seventeen years old, between two Professional phases in the life of the artist to move from the technical and free artistic experimentation of colorimetric technique of its own (Tamanism) to the intellectual and philosophical experimentation using the same technology, and its dimensions and technical characteristics of the stage.

By Fatenn Mostafa

Born in the city of Tanta, Gharbia in 1976, Mohammed Taman is an Egyptian contemporary artist and painter. He holds a master’s degree in digital arts and is currently the Director of the Research Center of New Media Arts, under the jurisdiction of Fine Arts of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture. He is also lecturer and researcher in the field of digital arts.

His paintings are characterized by color materials. The composition of such chemical layers involves many petroleum derivatives and oil oxides so these elements can interact together on the surface of the painting to create a silky finish . His unique signature style and his artistic experience exceed more than ten years. He experiments and evolves to the nature of the chemical materials, that are ultimately turned into unique works of art that cannot be replicated or reproduced. Each piece of art stands alone as a distinctive piece as it is the result of chemical reactions which cannot be repeated twice on the surface of two different paintings. His style is marked by a certain specialty both in terms of the raw materials he uses, and in terms of linking the same to the contemporary intellectual philosophy of everyday life issues, which adds a philosophical dimension to the painting in addition to its technical content.

BIO

Tamanism

The progressive style of Taman is based on the duplication of vision, as for at the first glance, you can configure the general impression of the painting, but shortly after looking more closely, you can see depth and different dimensions of a particular technique that enriches the initial vision.

Upon the absorption of the painting’s details, you can see more and more elements. His paintings are a field of tiny smooth composition of waves or pixels. A painting within a painting.

Mohamed Taman has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the Artspace, Dubai. Several works by the artist have been sold at auction, including ‘Untitled (from the Regeneration series)’ sold at Christie’s Dubai ‘INTERNATIONAL MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART’ in 2009.

1994 - 1998 Faculty of Art Education, University of Helwan, Cairo, Egypt (Bachelor) 1998 - 2004 University of Helwan, Cairo, Egypt (Master Degree, Faculty of Art Education, Painting and Designing Department ) 2001 Third Prize, Salon of Youth 11th - Egyptian Ministry of Culture 2002 First Prize, Salon of Youth 12th - Egyptian Ministry of Culture 2005 University of Helwan, Cairo, Egypt (PHD Student, Faculty of Art Education) 2006 Prize of Honor, Salon of Youth 17th - Egyptian Ministry of Culture 2008 Université LUMIÈRE LYON 2, Lyon, France (Master Degree student) 2009 Kunst Halle, St.Gallen, Swiss (Artist in Residency)

Is a technical name launched by Artist Mohammed Taman on his colorimetric technique, which relies on control of the movement of a liquid color on a hard surface at a certain timing before the transfer of a liquid color into a solid state due to the volatility of petroleum vapors of the color liquid. This technology began to take its career with the Artist since 1999; during which the Artist spent seventeen years of technical and artistic experimentation in the chemistry of color, and the potential of this technique, as well as the physical and chemical characteristics thereof, allowing the Artist to exploit and adapt it as he likes in his artwork.

The Tamanizm technology in its general appearance approaches another ancient color technique known as Crackle or cracking of the color surface. It is a real cracking occurs on the surface as a result of drought, deflation and cold factors and diverge constituent parts of color, resulting in what is known by intermittent of the color surface, while the “ Tmaneizm “ technology depends on what is known as the theory of the stuck impurities insoluble in the mass petroleum liquid (host liquid), where these stuck impurities are metal impurities insoluble in petroleum media in the status of repulsion all the time. Its qualitative weighs is lighter than the specific gravity of the fluid host which makes it stuck all the time inside the hosting fluid, and in the case of the movement of atomic stacking in the form of compact layers on top of each others taking the pyramid shape finally and until being fully dried.

This results in the final distinctive shape of the surface of this technical color, and similar in outward appearance to organic cells under the microscope monolith next to each others in a careful attention like a section of an organic part of the body of a human, a plant or an animal.

Most influential Elements in Tamanizm Technology: Petroleum Solvents: Petrol: It agitates the lingering impurities and lead them to move rapidly and continuously in the host liquid until completely being dried, as well as working to relieve the hosting fluid, and to reduce the intensity of its cohesion.

The Heat The higher degree of hosting fluid temperature is the greater of the degree of flexibility and easiness of composition.

Coldness Reduction of the temperature of the hosting liquid will lead to rapid dehydration, even before the completion of the chemical interaction, which the impurity atoms require until completely dried.

The Time Time element and the time difference between the beginning of the hosting liquid dryness and the complete dryness determines the control degree in lines and shapes produced on the surface of the painting.

Stages of Development of Tamanizm Technology 1999 This year witnessed the first artist experiments with this colorimetric technique, which lasted with him throughout the seven years of research and experimentation in the chemistry of petroleum media colors installation, which has been made for the first time accidently when the Artist was preparing to participate in the Youth Salon at its tenth session in the said year. He was performing color experiments on unconventional materials.

Actually, the artist work was accepted to display this artwork within acceptable business. However, after a brief period of putting the work in a vertical position, the colors began to melt and flowed to the bottom, which spoiled the artwork at the end, and dropped out of the list of exhibitors before it is being displayed on the agenda of the Saloon.

The beginning of this technology was through one degree of color which is the golden color. The artist took after nearly two years in an attempt to reproduce the same color effect production once again, which he got at the first time by accident. After many failed attempts and continuous experimentation, the Artist has succeeded in recycling the same raw material again, but this time intentionally and not by accident.

During these initial experiments the artist has managed to shift from the golden color to the silver color and the final outcome is located within one of the shades of gray.

2005 It was the first successful attempt by the Artist to get a darkening gray color.

The artist then ha two degrees of gray and dark gray, managed through them to produce the first personal Portrait using this technology.

Then he successively worked then in attempts to be able to color the degree of that gray to get a full range of color, especially by this material, but it did not succeeded; then, he accompanied this by other attempts tried by the artist to control the fluid movement with the hazel viscous texture above the surface of the painting, according to linear paths made by the Artist, which showed another type of challenges that require the surface of the painting to be equipped in a certain way so that technique can move above its surface.

The artist here does not paint with his hands, but he controls the color path of movement above the surface of the painting like driving a car over a paved road until it snaps in a certain position and shape desired by the Artist.

2007 The artist managed to produce the first set of colorful personal Portrait using that technique. It is presented in a collective exhibition Occidentalism under sponsorship of Gallery Karim Francis. At that time, the color degrees were almost faint since the degree of color saturation inside the hosting liquid were not great, but the experience was accompanied by the experience of another artistic value, a concept of “redundancy”, “copies” or “imitation”, where he produced nearly thirty personal colored Portrait in this exhibition in size of 25 X35 cm.

Despite the fact that all the thirty portraits were in the same configuration, the same position, and the same linear construction, the final result of all portraits were different despite of the unification of raw material, and technique. The reason behind this was that scientifically, any chemical interaction happens only once and not is repeated, so the results were different each time on the surface of the painting.

2010 Another development of Tmanizm technology happened this year, when the artist was able to configure the white color (off white), and adding it to a group of colors. The first work was presented using the new color at an individual exhibition “Baroque” at Gallery Karim Francis.

For the first time the artist has had a set of semi-integrated colors: - Bright Degree (off white) - Gray / silver degree (average degree) - Dark Class / black / dark gray “It should be noted that the chemical composition of three basic colors has the same degree of media intermediary hosting color, but they differ in the chemical composition of the type of used outstanding impurities, but at the end they give the same visual effect.”

Color combination in degrees or a different color groups, but it is one of the gray tones at the end or “colored gray.”

2012 In this year, the Artist succeeded in the development of Tamanizm technology once again, but this time by changing color oxides coloring the hosting fluid, and replace it with another form of colored oxides after attempts by many experiments, which led finally to get the diversity of colors similar to diversity degrees in oil colors, and watercolor, and Jawah.

Furthermore, the Artist has succeeded in adding new color degrees (phosphorous degree) , which is not existed in the oil colors group.

2013 The artist developed the tools that he used to work out with traditionally together with other tools that have the ability to store small amounts of the color on a temporary basis (color tank), which is the same idea the dry pen. This change contributed to save a lot of work time on one painting, as well as reduction of unintended incidents and errors that were occurring during the former coloring process.

2016 It is the year of turning point, where he reached the maximum possible degree of control of the free and liquid movement tracks of the color however he wants on the surface of the painting, allowing him more control over what the artist desires to show, and to emphasize, hide or to delete. Along with this technical evolution higher in the control of the use of this technique, the artist began to adapt the technology through which he can express philosophical themes and concepts, which were difficult previously to put them forward by this technique, because of the difficulty of controlling them in the past.

Technological Characteristics of Tmanizm Technology: The technological characteristics are characterized by combining the the technological characteristics of the technique of watercolor and oily colors technique at once, as they are boasted by bifurcation and deployment as in watercolor, but at the same time they are solid, dark, and water-resistant colors, and can work in layers (overlapped layers) as in the oil color technique, as well as with some of the treatment it can be semi-transparent colors as in watercolor.

Therefore, the work produced by Tmanizm technique is produced only once, and can not be replicated, or reproduced again by any means, as a result of its surface that is like the living cell, and the result of the chemical interaction, which is not repeated again, even with the unification of all the technical elements of the timetable as necessary to be drought, and the degree of liquidity and saturation percentage of the chromatography host media, and the amount and type of the suspended impurities, but the results are different every time.

Also, it is like any other material affected by the severity of the elements which negatively affect any other work of art, such as direct exposure to sunlight, which can cause a change in the degree of their colors, as well as the painting’s surface is affected by any external violent influences, such as the scratch, and curettage or any sharp objects.

Odry

Ballerina

Raneem

Selfie

CHEMICAL R E AC T I O N M O H A M M E D TA M A N Catalogue Published on the occasion of the show Mohammed Taman Chemical Reaction 1st November - 21st November ArtTalks | Egypt

Graphic Concept & Realization Omar Mobarek Text Fatenn Mostafa Mohammed Taman Photographs Mohammed Taman

Coordinators Lisa Lounis Cherine Chafik

Printing Concorde Press

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