Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Tor in the Garden |
Artist |
Mahmoud, Ben |
Medium |
mixed media on paper |
Date |
1985 |
Description |
Ben Mahmoud's work is based on his experiences while growing up in Kanawha County, West Virginia. "Tor in the Garden" is characteristic of his artistic style during the 1980s when he explored dream-inspired landscapes and figurative work that had autobiographical content. His work of the 1980s reflected a period of time when he was searching for a more personal manner of self expression which marked a transition in his artistic focus. "Tor in the Garden" is one of Mahmoud's dream-inspired landscapes that he produced in the 1980s. It depicts a rocky hill or "tor" at the center of a landscape comprised of simple shapes and patterns. Water - a dominant theme in Mahmoud's 1980s paintings - is depicted by a pattern of jagged lines. "Water has played an important visual role in my life. There was my home, four blocks from the Kanawha River. Then there were the three years when I lived in the Caribean where I spent every free moment in the blue sea. Finally, there were four years on the island in Connecticut where I was surrounded by water. There is some deeper mystery about the water. Every 'escape' dream I ever had dealt with water in some important way." |
Collection |
Permanent Collection |
Dimensions |
H-15.5 W-12 inches |
Credit line |
1988 Gift of Kanawha Bicentennial, Inc. |