Testimonials
Dear Laila,
... I looked at your paintings again and again. ... to my humble eye it was a great surprise. At first, I noticed something very special. At the first glance already. You work in different forms of expression, different techniques, worlds of color and space, as I would like to put it once. If one has never heard of you, one would like to think that one can imagine the soul of the artist a little bit. Great. Some of your paintings I find simply extraordinary such as "The Desert Flower", "Dei Sculpturali", "Muave", "too much head is a lot to lose". Of course, I know that paintings in nature have a completely different effect, but this can only enhance the impression! ... The reward of the brave, however: There is a treasure to discover, your pictures suggest it, show it already clearly. I am curious about your next works. One can see, one will still get a lot of you to see, to feel ...
Carpe Diem
... I looked at your paintings again and again. ... to my humble eye it was a great surprise. At first, I noticed something very special. At the first glance already. You work in different forms of expression, different techniques, worlds of color and space, as I would like to put it once. If one has never heard of you, one would like to think that one can imagine the soul of the artist a little bit. Great. Some of your paintings I find simply extraordinary such as "The Desert Flower", "Dei Sculpturali", "Muave", "too much head is a lot to lose". Of course, I know that paintings in nature have a completely different effect, but this can only enhance the impression! ... The reward of the brave, however: There is a treasure to discover, your pictures suggest it, show it already clearly. I am curious about your next works. One can see, one will still get a lot of you to see, to feel ...
Carpe Diem
Letter of Recommendation for Laila Sahrai
Laila Sahrai has successfully completed her four-year studies at the Academy of Enschede in the field of painting with the title "Bachelor of Fine Art" in June this year.
I got to know and accompanied her as a student of painting in my function as coordinator and lecturer of the department of painting from September 2005 to June 2007.
During this time she developed her painting extraordinarily fast. She was not content with short-term interim results, but engaged in the work process with great curiosity. The direct and at the same time inner expressiveness of her paintings speak for themselves and are the result of concentrated work on her paintings. She pursues her painting independently and seriously.
Working with her was very interesting and invigorating, and it should be emphasized that she always knew how to implement criticism constructively. She had a very stimulating influence on fellow students due to her personality and high level of commitment to her work.
In the course of her studies, Laila Sahrai was able to lay a good foundation for a free career as an artist, which we as a college look forward to with great confidence.
We wish her all the best and continued success for her future career and life.
Original text in dutch
Aanbevelingsbrief voor Laila Sahrai
Laila Sahrai heeft haar vierjarige studieprogramma aan de Academie te Enschede in het vakgebied schilderen, tekenen, grafiek, met de titel “Bachelor of fine art” in juni van dit jaar met succes afgesloten.
Ik heb ze als student der schilderij in de tijd van september 2005 tot juni 2007 in mijn functie als coördinator en docent van het vakgebied leren kennen en begeleiden.
Gedurende deze tijd heeft ze haar schilderij uitzonderlijk snel verder ontwikkeld. Ze had er niet genoegen van korte tijdige tussenresultaten maar confronteerde met grote nieuwsgierigheid het werkproces. De directe en tegelijk innerlijke uitdrukkingskracht van haar werk spreekt voor zich en ze zijn het resultaat van het concentreerde werken aan haar schilderijen. Zij oefent haar schilderij zelfstandig en serieus.
Het samenwerken met haar was zeer interessant en belevend; het moet erbij getoond worden dat ze begreep kritiek steeds constructief om te zetten. Door haar persoonlijkheid en haar actieve werkinzet had ze een heel stimulerende invloed op haar medestudenten.
Laila Sahrai heeft in het verloop van haar studie een goede basis voor een vrije loopbaan als kunstenares kunnen leggen, dat wij als colleges met grote vertouwen tegemoetkomen.
Wij wensen haar voor haar verdere beroepsloopbaan en levensweg alles goede en verder veel succes.
Laila Sahrai has successfully completed her four-year studies at the Academy of Enschede in the field of painting with the title "Bachelor of Fine Art" in June this year.
I got to know and accompanied her as a student of painting in my function as coordinator and lecturer of the department of painting from September 2005 to June 2007.
During this time she developed her painting extraordinarily fast. She was not content with short-term interim results, but engaged in the work process with great curiosity. The direct and at the same time inner expressiveness of her paintings speak for themselves and are the result of concentrated work on her paintings. She pursues her painting independently and seriously.
Working with her was very interesting and invigorating, and it should be emphasized that she always knew how to implement criticism constructively. She had a very stimulating influence on fellow students due to her personality and high level of commitment to her work.
In the course of her studies, Laila Sahrai was able to lay a good foundation for a free career as an artist, which we as a college look forward to with great confidence.
We wish her all the best and continued success for her future career and life.
Original text in dutch
Aanbevelingsbrief voor Laila Sahrai
Laila Sahrai heeft haar vierjarige studieprogramma aan de Academie te Enschede in het vakgebied schilderen, tekenen, grafiek, met de titel “Bachelor of fine art” in juni van dit jaar met succes afgesloten.
Ik heb ze als student der schilderij in de tijd van september 2005 tot juni 2007 in mijn functie als coördinator en docent van het vakgebied leren kennen en begeleiden.
Gedurende deze tijd heeft ze haar schilderij uitzonderlijk snel verder ontwikkeld. Ze had er niet genoegen van korte tijdige tussenresultaten maar confronteerde met grote nieuwsgierigheid het werkproces. De directe en tegelijk innerlijke uitdrukkingskracht van haar werk spreekt voor zich en ze zijn het resultaat van het concentreerde werken aan haar schilderijen. Zij oefent haar schilderij zelfstandig en serieus.
Het samenwerken met haar was zeer interessant en belevend; het moet erbij getoond worden dat ze begreep kritiek steeds constructief om te zetten. Door haar persoonlijkheid en haar actieve werkinzet had ze een heel stimulerende invloed op haar medestudenten.
Laila Sahrai heeft in het verloop van haar studie een goede basis voor een vrije loopbaan als kunstenares kunnen leggen, dat wij als colleges met grote vertouwen tegemoetkomen.
Wij wensen haar voor haar verdere beroepsloopbaan en levensweg alles goede en verder veel succes.
About the Artwork of Laila Sahrai
Laila Sahrai's work is characterized by stratification. Both in a formal and substantive sense. The adventurous and complex referrals bear witness to a reflexion on the complex society we live in.
Laila, who experiences the stratification of different cultures from close by demonstrates an inquisitive, self-critical, open-minded and creative attitude. In her work, the faculties of the creative imagination and the importance of feelings and intuition are put first and set against scientific understanding.
Like the romantics, she is not satisfied with the mere imaginability of reality. According to them reality can only be known by intuition and not by understanding, it can only be experienced in a unity of subjekt and objekt.( with Novalis we find such an intuitive and mystical unification described )
Yet we also see the question of belief in the possibility of still being able to bear witness to the romantic experience. The irony and the (formal) chaotic elements want to testify of that belief in 'the other' but show in their rigidity at the same time the suffering and the absent Utopian reconciliation. There is the tension of social catastrophe and a redemption that has become questionable.
But it is her creative agility of the open process that makes room for ever new vistas. An openness that constantly activates the viewer.
Also her thesis is worth mentioning, after I had read it I wrote to her : What a beautiful clear and nuanced thesis.It is one of the best theses,I have seen. So professionally informative and important in content. I read it with excitement and thought I recognized some of it as a painter - draughtsman. PROFICIAT, a cum laude graduation as far as I am concerned. Thank you .Make a copy of it for the library if you like. That would be a true gift.
Yours sincerely,
j p k p
(Übersetzt mit www.DeepL.com/Translator)
Original text in dutch
Over het werk van Laila Sahrai
Het werk van Laila Sahrai wordt gekenmerkt door een gelaagdheid. Zowel in formele als in inhoudelijke zin. De avontuurlijke en complexe vewijzingen getuigen van een reflexie over de complexe samenleving waarin wij leven.
Laila die de gelaagdheid van verschillende culturen van nabij meemaakt geeft blijk van een onderzoekende, zelfkritische, onbevangen en creatieve houding. In haar werk worden de vermogens van de creatieve verbeelding en het belang van gevoelens en intuïtie voorop gesteld en tegen het wetenschappelijke begrijpen afgezet.
Evenals de romantici neemt zij geen genoegen met het louter denkbare van de werkelijkheid. Volgens hen kan de werkelijkheid alleen door intuïtie en niet door begrip gekend worden, ze kan alleen ervaren worden in een eenheid van subjekt en objekt.( bij Novalis vinden we zo’n intuïtieve en mystieke eenwording beschreven )
Toch zien we ook de vraag naar het geloof in de mogelijkheid nog te kunnen getuigen van de romantische ervaring. De ironie en de (formele) chaotische elementen willen van dat geloof in ‘het andere’ getuigen maar tonen in hun verstarring tegelijk het lijden en de afwezige Utopische verzoening. Er is sprake van het spanningsveld van maatschappelijke catastrofe en een twijfelachtig geworden verlossing.
Maar het is haar creatieve beweeglijkheid van het open proces die ruimte maakt voor steeds weer een ander vergezicht. Een openheid die de toeschouwer voortdurend activeert.
OOk haar scriptie is zeer vermeldings waard, nadat ik hem had gelezen schreef ik haar : Wat een prachtige heldere en genuanceerde scriptie .Het is een van de beste scripties die ik onder ogen heb gekregen. Zo professioneel informatief en belangrijk van inhoud. Ik heb hem met opwinding gelezen en meende het een en ander als schilder - tekenaar te herkennen.
PROFICIAT, een cum laude afstuderen wat mij betreft. Dank je wel .Maak er een kopie van voor de bibliotheek als je wilt. Dat zou een waar geschenk zijn.
Hoogachtend,
j p k p
Laila Sahrai's work is characterized by stratification. Both in a formal and substantive sense. The adventurous and complex referrals bear witness to a reflexion on the complex society we live in.
Laila, who experiences the stratification of different cultures from close by demonstrates an inquisitive, self-critical, open-minded and creative attitude. In her work, the faculties of the creative imagination and the importance of feelings and intuition are put first and set against scientific understanding.
Like the romantics, she is not satisfied with the mere imaginability of reality. According to them reality can only be known by intuition and not by understanding, it can only be experienced in a unity of subjekt and objekt.( with Novalis we find such an intuitive and mystical unification described )
Yet we also see the question of belief in the possibility of still being able to bear witness to the romantic experience. The irony and the (formal) chaotic elements want to testify of that belief in 'the other' but show in their rigidity at the same time the suffering and the absent Utopian reconciliation. There is the tension of social catastrophe and a redemption that has become questionable.
But it is her creative agility of the open process that makes room for ever new vistas. An openness that constantly activates the viewer.
Also her thesis is worth mentioning, after I had read it I wrote to her : What a beautiful clear and nuanced thesis.It is one of the best theses,I have seen. So professionally informative and important in content. I read it with excitement and thought I recognized some of it as a painter - draughtsman. PROFICIAT, a cum laude graduation as far as I am concerned. Thank you .Make a copy of it for the library if you like. That would be a true gift.
Yours sincerely,
j p k p
(Übersetzt mit www.DeepL.com/Translator)
Original text in dutch
Over het werk van Laila Sahrai
Het werk van Laila Sahrai wordt gekenmerkt door een gelaagdheid. Zowel in formele als in inhoudelijke zin. De avontuurlijke en complexe vewijzingen getuigen van een reflexie over de complexe samenleving waarin wij leven.
Laila die de gelaagdheid van verschillende culturen van nabij meemaakt geeft blijk van een onderzoekende, zelfkritische, onbevangen en creatieve houding. In haar werk worden de vermogens van de creatieve verbeelding en het belang van gevoelens en intuïtie voorop gesteld en tegen het wetenschappelijke begrijpen afgezet.
Evenals de romantici neemt zij geen genoegen met het louter denkbare van de werkelijkheid. Volgens hen kan de werkelijkheid alleen door intuïtie en niet door begrip gekend worden, ze kan alleen ervaren worden in een eenheid van subjekt en objekt.( bij Novalis vinden we zo’n intuïtieve en mystieke eenwording beschreven )
Toch zien we ook de vraag naar het geloof in de mogelijkheid nog te kunnen getuigen van de romantische ervaring. De ironie en de (formele) chaotische elementen willen van dat geloof in ‘het andere’ getuigen maar tonen in hun verstarring tegelijk het lijden en de afwezige Utopische verzoening. Er is sprake van het spanningsveld van maatschappelijke catastrofe en een twijfelachtig geworden verlossing.
Maar het is haar creatieve beweeglijkheid van het open proces die ruimte maakt voor steeds weer een ander vergezicht. Een openheid die de toeschouwer voortdurend activeert.
OOk haar scriptie is zeer vermeldings waard, nadat ik hem had gelezen schreef ik haar : Wat een prachtige heldere en genuanceerde scriptie .Het is een van de beste scripties die ik onder ogen heb gekregen. Zo professioneel informatief en belangrijk van inhoud. Ik heb hem met opwinding gelezen en meende het een en ander als schilder - tekenaar te herkennen.
PROFICIAT, een cum laude afstuderen wat mij betreft. Dank je wel .Maak er een kopie van voor de bibliotheek als je wilt. Dat zou een waar geschenk zijn.
Hoogachtend,
j p k p
Opening speech by Prof. Dr. Dr. Günther Berger at the exhibition "Delusion, Sense or In-Between", Leipzig 2012
The first encounter with the artistic work of Ms. Sahrai was due to this catalog - purchased at a vernissage about 8 months ago! (Exhibition Nicolaistr.)
Already at a cursory glance at the reproductions I felt: here was a young painter + graphic artist with basic artistic skills, imaginative original design ability at work; central sense and meaning contexts of our lives, our inner psycho-spiritual state in a, full of contradictions, conflicts, threatening, not rationally always grasp, understandable world to give pictorial expression. Her fundamental mental + artistic conception thematizes here with the words "delusion, sense or in-between". Accordingly, she tries on large picture formats to give form to in-between spaces by dialectical coupling of extremes, of numerous disparate object elements, as we know them from surrealist works (Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, etc.).
Her source of inspiration are, among others, dreamy experiences, e.g. as an Afghan, her fears, wishes, hopes and the culture of her Afghan homeland!
Her paintings are masterpieces of exciting expressiveness of symbol-laden form and color compositions.
Graphic works here in exhibition, back room: Drawings as quickly thrown down sketches / studies in a flowing Rhythmic Duktus possess in comparison to "finished" pictures the charm of the immediate, the spontaneous, very personal intimate!
- Developed from pictorial imagination / fantasy, also playful motor activity - linear handwriting partly preliminary work - autonomous drawings ....... ! (It greets from the distance drawings of Matisse, also Picasso... u.a. ....! Nevertheless not epigone-like)
- Visions of perceptions, the dream as a certain means of knowledge!
- Light-dark works: (....?) Differentiation H.D.-effect of the floating, swaying, airy; Reminiscent of East Asian ink works > Hokusai e.g.
- Visions of perceptions, of the dream as a certain means of cognition
Comparison: Frida Kahlo - Laila S. Works interesting. The former very concretely bound to the person Frida, with Laila S. generalized as artificial content (expression of suffering e.g. ....).
All the written about Laila's artistic work good + correct, but still too much surface, would formulate more differentiated today...and so on.
The first encounter with the artistic work of Ms. Sahrai was due to this catalog - purchased at a vernissage about 8 months ago! (Exhibition Nicolaistr.)
Already at a cursory glance at the reproductions I felt: here was a young painter + graphic artist with basic artistic skills, imaginative original design ability at work; central sense and meaning contexts of our lives, our inner psycho-spiritual state in a, full of contradictions, conflicts, threatening, not rationally always grasp, understandable world to give pictorial expression. Her fundamental mental + artistic conception thematizes here with the words "delusion, sense or in-between". Accordingly, she tries on large picture formats to give form to in-between spaces by dialectical coupling of extremes, of numerous disparate object elements, as we know them from surrealist works (Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, etc.).
Her source of inspiration are, among others, dreamy experiences, e.g. as an Afghan, her fears, wishes, hopes and the culture of her Afghan homeland!
Her paintings are masterpieces of exciting expressiveness of symbol-laden form and color compositions.
Graphic works here in exhibition, back room: Drawings as quickly thrown down sketches / studies in a flowing Rhythmic Duktus possess in comparison to "finished" pictures the charm of the immediate, the spontaneous, very personal intimate!
- Developed from pictorial imagination / fantasy, also playful motor activity - linear handwriting partly preliminary work - autonomous drawings ....... ! (It greets from the distance drawings of Matisse, also Picasso... u.a. ....! Nevertheless not epigone-like)
- Visions of perceptions, the dream as a certain means of knowledge!
- Light-dark works: (....?) Differentiation H.D.-effect of the floating, swaying, airy; Reminiscent of East Asian ink works > Hokusai e.g.
- Visions of perceptions, of the dream as a certain means of cognition
Comparison: Frida Kahlo - Laila S. Works interesting. The former very concretely bound to the person Frida, with Laila S. generalized as artificial content (expression of suffering e.g. ....).
All the written about Laila's artistic work good + correct, but still too much surface, would formulate more differentiated today...and so on.
Opening speech for the exhibition "Behind the Veil" (Michael Touma, Leipzig artist)
"The works of Laila Sahrai are dedicated to preserving the culture of her native Afghanistan. The title of her exhibition, "Traditional Costumes and the Merging of Veils and Headdresses among Afghan Women," shows traditional costumes and jewelry of Afghanistan's different ethnic groups. However, she does not let her paintings remain in the documentary, but processes ethnographic findings with her own artistic works. She chooses themes like dance, lovers and portraits of Afghan girls and women. She is mainly concerned with the representation of beauty as an expression of freedom and life..... For the artist, remembering the past does not mean escaping, but rather reflecting on the diversity of Afghanistan's history and the desire to see more than just current events...."
Excerpt from the speech of the Leipzig artist Michael Touma on the exhibition "Behind the Veil" in Leipzig, 2012
"The works of Laila Sahrai are dedicated to preserving the culture of her native Afghanistan. The title of her exhibition, "Traditional Costumes and the Merging of Veils and Headdresses among Afghan Women," shows traditional costumes and jewelry of Afghanistan's different ethnic groups. However, she does not let her paintings remain in the documentary, but processes ethnographic findings with her own artistic works. She chooses themes like dance, lovers and portraits of Afghan girls and women. She is mainly concerned with the representation of beauty as an expression of freedom and life..... For the artist, remembering the past does not mean escaping, but rather reflecting on the diversity of Afghanistan's history and the desire to see more than just current events...."
Excerpt from the speech of the Leipzig artist Michael Touma on the exhibition "Behind the Veil" in Leipzig, 2012
Opening speech by Dr. Nicoletta Torcelli at the exhibition"WELTENSAMMERINNEN - Innenwelten der Außenwelt"
on May 12, 2017
... For Laila Sahrai, the fourth in the group, the open process is also essential. She was born in Kabul / Afghanistan. As a 9-year-old she came to Germany ...
The sensitive - the sensing of the senses - that is central for her. One of her sources of inspiration is Romanticism, this radical movement of thought that shaped philosophy, art, literature and music from around 1800 until well into the 19th century. In the series of works shown here, which she is currently working on, Laila Sahrai refers to Novalis' "Blue Flower," which became a central symbol of Romanticism.
The blue flower is a symbol of the longing for distance, as well as a symbol of the metaphysical striving for the infinite.
In this motif is the constant search for something that is not there - the absent place as an unattainable goal. This search - closely connected with the search for love, for happiness, for tranquility - this is an endless story, which is lived and experienced anew in every culture, in every personal destiny.
Laila Sahrai gets involved in this search, in this process, by painting the blue flower again and again. If you look at the paintings, you can see that some of them are collages, the flowers are glued on, giving the surface something in relief. If you look at the paintings even more closely, you can discover a genesis, a development, because the flowers show different phases and states. At the beginning, in the earliest picture of the series, the flowers are still "grounded", they are connected to the earth thanks to a net-like network of roots. Gradually they detach themselves from matter, lose their flower form and transform into buds, or actually rather capsules. As such, they rise up and float through a light, bright blue, reminiscent of the sky, while carrying all the other colors of the palette that the artist has mixed into it. In the last painting of the series - quite freshly created - the artist takes a different approach. She paints a single flower - and at the same time veils it, for it can hardly be made out, it almost dissolves into its bright surroundings. Or rather, it merges with this environment. It becomes immaterial. Laila Sahrai leads us viewers to the limits of perception, she plays openly with appearance and disappearance. The blue flower is just not to be grasped.
"One is always in search of oneself".
That's what the artist dropped in conversation when we talked about the works while setting up the exhibition. And that should be our motto now. Thank you, and have a good time collecting worlds!
on May 12, 2017
... For Laila Sahrai, the fourth in the group, the open process is also essential. She was born in Kabul / Afghanistan. As a 9-year-old she came to Germany ...
The sensitive - the sensing of the senses - that is central for her. One of her sources of inspiration is Romanticism, this radical movement of thought that shaped philosophy, art, literature and music from around 1800 until well into the 19th century. In the series of works shown here, which she is currently working on, Laila Sahrai refers to Novalis' "Blue Flower," which became a central symbol of Romanticism.
The blue flower is a symbol of the longing for distance, as well as a symbol of the metaphysical striving for the infinite.
In this motif is the constant search for something that is not there - the absent place as an unattainable goal. This search - closely connected with the search for love, for happiness, for tranquility - this is an endless story, which is lived and experienced anew in every culture, in every personal destiny.
Laila Sahrai gets involved in this search, in this process, by painting the blue flower again and again. If you look at the paintings, you can see that some of them are collages, the flowers are glued on, giving the surface something in relief. If you look at the paintings even more closely, you can discover a genesis, a development, because the flowers show different phases and states. At the beginning, in the earliest picture of the series, the flowers are still "grounded", they are connected to the earth thanks to a net-like network of roots. Gradually they detach themselves from matter, lose their flower form and transform into buds, or actually rather capsules. As such, they rise up and float through a light, bright blue, reminiscent of the sky, while carrying all the other colors of the palette that the artist has mixed into it. In the last painting of the series - quite freshly created - the artist takes a different approach. She paints a single flower - and at the same time veils it, for it can hardly be made out, it almost dissolves into its bright surroundings. Or rather, it merges with this environment. It becomes immaterial. Laila Sahrai leads us viewers to the limits of perception, she plays openly with appearance and disappearance. The blue flower is just not to be grasped.
"One is always in search of oneself".
That's what the artist dropped in conversation when we talked about the works while setting up the exhibition. And that should be our motto now. Thank you, and have a good time collecting worlds!
Laila Sahrai's Art does not shock
does not provoke
does not scream for attention
it is simple
it moves and touches
gentle, sublime, tender-hearted
stops time
forces to pause
to penetrate into the matter of the spirit
decelerates the "understanding" of the work of art
throws the viewer back on himself
deep and wide
and then it shocks
and amazes.
does not provoke
does not scream for attention
it is simple
it moves and touches
gentle, sublime, tender-hearted
stops time
forces to pause
to penetrate into the matter of the spirit
decelerates the "understanding" of the work of art
throws the viewer back on himself
deep and wide
and then it shocks
and amazes.
Ano Nym (on the "Blue Flower" series, 2020)
Anonymous
Kontakt
Laila Sahrai
info@sahrai-fineart.com
+49 (0) 761 155 354 12
Vordermattenstraße 2
79108 Freiburg