“My quarantine started 59 days ago, which according to google translates to: 8 week and 3 days, 1416 hours, 84,960 minutes, and is 16.12% of 2020.

It was very hard in the beginning to try and find a new routine. Days blurred together, yet I find myself getting used to this new norm. This abrupt pause from life, being away from the studio, and the difficulty in having access to my materials led me to challenge myself to create using the materials I already have at home and to try out other forms and mediums of art making. I started experimenting with paper sculptures, audios, and short films. To my surprise, the continuous repetition of days found its way into my work somehow. I find myself gravitating towards repetition, paraphrasing, and re-paraphrasing to no end. this obsessiveness in the process of accumulation and repetition is highly important to me right now as it is somehow mirroring my days. it is a subtle change day by day yet very noticeable over time.”

“For an artist who works from his studio, I think the quarantine is quite similar to my everyday life.

Technically, the challenging change was to adapt logistically the production of large paintings to a less big space as I created a medium studio at my home. Psychologically, I found myself in a test in which I shall really discover if, without any outside activities especially the nightlife ones I could still feel happy. The result is that I have been spending more time than before on my paintings, restarted working on my poetry texts, taking some online guitar lessons and even felt in love with some plants! I needed probably this time for meditation, and for rethinking my personal behavior and my approach in works, which could be only positive.

Still, we pray for the ones who have been affected by the pandemic and hope we could be back to normal life soon.”

“The quarantine has given a pause for me to reflect on life, work and family. I’m currently creating a new website with my latest work - something I’ve been meaning to do for the past 2-3 years.”

“Amidst all the uncertainty and plenty of time available, this is a great opportunity for me to read, research, and experiment. I have been researching themes of trauma and memory.

Before the quarantine phase i’ve had a few ideas on what to paint and now I have the extended time to actually bring these ideas to life by starting with small studies that could potentially end up as a body of work.

Besides art, watching films and re-connecting with friends have been taking a fair amount of this time.”

في زمن كورونا

رسام لايشكو الضجر.. يستيقظ الفجر على بركة الشغل والخلق وكانه يولد من جديد "كل يوم جديد"

لم يتغير عليه شئ. عندما جاءت جائحة كورونا وجدها واحة جديدة للعزلة عن بني البشر. واصبحت

اللحظة اكثر مكثفة من ذي قبل. لم يشكو من البعد او الابتعاد لانه اقترب من البحث والحديقة الفكرية

لن يتغير المزاج مادام هناك "رسم" في الهواء وشجاعة في اليد .. هذا كل مايملك في هذا العالم

دفتر الخيال اصبح مكتنزاً بقصص جديدة قد تلهم الاخرين في بعضها وفي بعضها الاخر تنتقد الخائفين

وقليلي الحيلة. ان كورونا بريئة مما نفعل. لقد انتعشت الطبيعة بتنفس عظيم في زمنها. وبالتالي فقد

كشفت كثير من المستور او المدفون من شرور الناس عبر العصور.. دعوها تمتحننا بسلام.

كورونا تاج من نوع نبيل. يتوج الشجعان والمبادرين واصحاب الضمير الحي. لانها وجدان طبيعي

لايراوغ ولا يساوم كما فعل البشر في انفسهم.. اذن الانطباع مذهل وراقي جداً.

نديم كوفي

أمستردام

23 - 05- 2020

“To be honest, all I can think about is how lucky I am. I am sorry not only for the people who lost their lives, but also for the masses that have lost their livelihoods.

They say this is the Third World War, but I am so relieved that I don’t have to send my boys to the front.

As for art, the quarantine has simply given me more time to breath, because quite simply, for me, painting is breathing.”

“My practice revolves around creating sculptures from bioplastics and repurposed natural materials. I took advantage of my daily quarantine walks to collect remnants of the Spring we missed being stuck at home. Bunches of dried bougainvillea flowers, cherry blossoms and cedar tree leaves now await being recreated into sculptures. Breakfast was another big part of my quarantine life and from it I gathered natural byproducts and waste like egg shells and coffee grounds to use as casting material for future work as well.

Back at my studio, older bioplastic work was left in storage unattended for 8 full weeks. With increasing temperatures, this promised visits from unwanted guests of the invertebrate kind to lurk in and around the work! So a huge checkup and maintenance session was carried out the second I came back. There is one work in particular -made from milk casein- that needed extra care and attention. That sculpture is definitely alive!”

“I was and im still in the army camp - for emergency duty call to the reserve forces since the beginning of April. There is no time honestly to do any art work, so when we have returned home for two or three days in the past month, I created some artistic calligraphy pieces that holds wisdom and value and Quranic verses that carried hope and certainty.

It was a bit challenging because of the critical situation we all are facing and i didn’t have the chance to share this until now.”

“These are difficult times, but difficult and uncertain times inspire creativity. I look at this time as an unexpected residency. I have been fortunate enough to be able to work from home and I have been using the time to try new materials and content directions in my art. Voluntary quarantine has been a good way for me to find peace and create works away from the general noise of life. Being in complete isolation and away from people and all possible influences other than my own visions helps me see things more clearly. It has allowed me to slow down and focus with little distraction. I’ve been working on a series of artworks that depict an altered worldview during and after Covid-19.

I’m sure artists will come out of this strong, because if there are any people in this world who are good at sitting still, thinking and working, it is artists.”

“A Lovely Paradox

“Does my art matter?” I kept asking myself that question a lot in quarantine. It is funny that I started to question my worth in a pandemic. In such a situation, you need the things you love around you the most, and not be skeptical about it. I finally realized that paying attention is much more important than getting attention. Because only then are you in the moment and observing/absorbing your reaction rather than letting the environment decides how you should react to your own art; to your own self. I have never felt this free and restricted at the same time; aren’t we living a lovely paradox? I am drawing and writing more these days and not painting as much. Learning how to love my art and myself differently every day.”

في هذه المرحلة اكيد تغيرت اشياء كثيرة ومفاهيم الحياة وبالتالي يصبح الانسان اكثر تفكيرا في كل شئ وبما فيهم الفن وطريقة تنفيذ اعمال تشع با الامل فهذا الخوف والرعب اليومي الذي روج له السياسيين والاعلام يفقد البشرية الامل ويدمر الخطط والبرامج المستقبلية .

انا انظر الى دور الفن بشكل مختلف تماما فالفن رؤية عميقة تجتر المشاعر الصادقة مع امتلكها القوة للموجهة واستشراف المستقبل للبشرية .

هنا يجب اعادة النظر في كل شئ والتخلي عن القولب الجاهزة التي روج لها خلال السنوات السابقة مثل حقوق الانسان والديمقراطية والمساوه .

يجب على العالم التوقف عن التفكير بالحروب والدمار الذي بسببة على المسنوى الانساني والمادي ووضع افكار جديدة للتعايش

وباء كورونا 19 اوقف الزمن للحظة فارقة وجعل الانسان يفكر اكثر

طبعا هناك كم هائل من المعلومات حول هذا الوباء الى ان اصبح ممل جدا واصبح كل الناس اطباء

انا امارس حياتي العادية امارس الرياضة في الهواء الطلق وامشي قربة الساعتين بين الحقول ثم اعود بطاقة ايجابية الى اابيت وانا ممتلىء بالامل والافكار الايجابية وادخل الى مرسمي اكمل ما لم يكتمل .

طبعا هناك تاثير مباشر على الحالة الاقتصادية (المادية) فكل شئ توفف المعارض الفعاليات فالفنان اكبر جهة متضررة ولكننا على امل ان تعود الحياة افضل من السابق

وعلى هذا الامل نعيش

“My studio is far from my home, and this made me move away from my tools and space, but I did not give up during the period of quarantine. I made a simple studio in corner of my house, and kept up my practice. I believe that the artist has the ability to cope with any circumstance.

The best thing about this isolation is that I have read many books that I did not have time for before.”