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MOSAIC

THE BEST STORIES ARE IN THE DETAILS

Suzy Müller

Anxiety in the loop-heads

Suzy Müller paints her feelings, and you can follow her life through the evolution of her art, now on display and sale, at the Al-Tarhal Gallery. Such expression, especially the anxiety in her life, is expressed through a class of creatures she has cooked up on her own: vaguely human forms with their faces cut out that could represent everybody �or their deepest, faceless anxieties.

And yet Suzy’s work isn’t dark �indeed it is, apart from a series of black and white drawings, extremely colourful. Perhaps she has found, in recognising the creatures that trouble her, the importance of the positive. The largest of these works �and we’re talking 220cm long �is in what Suzy describes as a ‘warm blue.�That took her a year and over 100 layers to complete. “Colour,�she says, “is feeling.�br>
That sort of thought echoes the development of the best-known Expressionist painter of all time, Vincent Van Gogh, but Suzy insists she doesn’t seek inspiration from other artists, or outside influences. Instead, she looks within, and paints what she feels. Such works of hers might even change colour as she paints over yet another layer, as the painting evolves with her mood, or life. “The beginning is fact. And over that come my feelings.�Her creatures evolved too, built up over generations of paintings that might have started with just abstract lines and gradually began to take form.

This evolution of things, from her life to paintings that seem wound around each other, is another theme you will find through the work. “Sticking to the same thing isn’t good for an artist. You must change in your art, as you change through your life. We are artists 24 hours a day.�

It was around 2005 that Suzy built up her thoughts to produce an entire family of anonymous creatures straight from her emotions, beings that she calls Schlaufenköpfe, which roughly translates from German (it is a made-up word) into ‘loop heads,�describing the shape of the creations.

The creatures themselves always seem a bit animated, as much in motion as they remain anonymous.

Suzy Müller always wanted to be an artist, painting even when she was little. When asked of inspirations she always pointedly says she has none, but admits she studied William Turner. That seems most unusual given that Turner was a landscape artist in the best of 18th and 19th century traditions, and Suzy’s work seems as far removed from that sort of scene as possible. But it wasn’t the subject that Suzy was admiring; it was Turner’s light, his mix of colours, the emotions he conjured up. That’s what she was after.

It wasn’t easy. Suzy started with commercial art, and became art director in an advertising agency where she worked with Herbie Kalleitner �now marketing and sales manager for the Al-Tarhal Gallery. At that time she told herself that she would work for ten years, and then would find inspiration. And that’s exactly what she did, although it would take another handful of years after setting off on her own for her work to gradually be recognised in the art market. Being true to herself and painting what she felt was, in her words, “a wonderful feeling.�br>
Mairi Thomas

Art in the detail

Mairi Thomas has been shooting Oman since 2006, but even though she focuses on local motifs �her details of local doors, for instance �influences she has soaked up from around the world keep cropping up, adding dimensions to her work that are getting her increasing recognition. You can now find her work on the walls of The Midan Hotel Suites, The Radisson SAS and the Crowne Plaza Intercontinental Muscat.
Exploring the region, Mairi draws inspiration from Islamic visual art, looking at, in her own words, “the textiles, clothes, jewellery, calligraphy and architecture of ancient and modern Oman; from the humble doorways of old Manah to the splendour of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque and from the hennaed hand of the wedding guest to the embroidered cuffs sold in the women’s souq in Ibra. Such richness of colour and design often contrasts with the outwardly monochromatic dress and landscape, and the glimpsed riot of colour and pattern beneath the surface.�br>
At home in England in the summer of 2008 she found that the man-made geometry of Islamic art contrasted well with the natural geometry of the flowers in her garden. The juxtaposition of these elements forms the basis of her forthcoming show, ‘Arabian Abstracts, English Extracts,�open from December 2� at the Crowne Plaza Intercontinental Muscat and from December 6�3 at the Al Madina Art Gallery.

Perhaps most interesting about her work is that even as she is cropping into a detail of a sheet-metal door in the interiors of Oman, her final work, be it a wall hanging or card, is a mix of influences from around the world, most noticeably Japan. It is, in a way, honing in to the abstract from the larger picture. “It is not the big picture in a vast landscape that interests me,�she says, “but the beauty and expression in the detail.�br>
The part of Japan she was based in is famous for lacquer-ware, silk dying and pottery, and while there she studied Japanese calligraphy and ikebana and was influenced by Japanese notions of space and their meanings. Such ideas inevitably influenced her view of the relationships between objects and space, and spilled over into her photography with a new attention to colour, texture, pattern, light and shape.

Look out for Mairi’s work at the upcoming exhibition (call the gallery on 24691380) and don’t miss out on her calendars and greeting cards sold across Oman (including the shop at the Midan Hotel Suites: 24499565), Qatar and the UAE.

The big picture

Abdullah al Shuhi

Oman: The Big Picture was launched at the Bait al Baranda, with a fresh new angle on this photogenic country and its people. This 305-page coffee-table book is the result of several years of photographer Abdullah al Shuhi’s obsession with his home country.
Three years in planning and execution, the inspiration for the book has been Abdullah’s driving force for much longer than that. Since he first began touring his own country as a press photographer and taking pictures wherever he went, he has amassed a vast collection of Oman’s many diverse faces. The reason for selecting only his most recent photographs, though, is to document the changes in Oman and provide an up-to-date picture of what you can see and do. Yes, commercial global tourism has arrived, but amidst the modernity and the development boom, Oman’s strong traditional culture and history are mirrored in these vibrant portraits and ageless landscapes.

The book covers 27 areas in Oman, from Musandam in the far north to Dhofar in the south. It can’t be comprehensive, of course, but it does offer visitors and residents a regional selection of some of the country’s unique attractions. Without doubt, there will be a sequel, as space and what Oman still has to offer have limited its scope. Still, each colour photographic essay focuses on a particular area and highlights its most outstanding attractions. A short informative introduction accompanies each section, and captions provide further detail.

It will be a convenient souvenir for those leaving Oman, and a handy reference for anyone planning anything from day trips to longer tours. Visitors can page through the book and select which regions they would like to visit. It is ideal for anyone wishing to get an idea of the country and select which places to include in an itinerary. Distances are given to each destination and there’s a handy map at the back. It isn’t a ready reference, nor a detailed travel guide, but organised region by region, it is easy on the eye. It will also provide a record of places seen and a foretaste of others still to be experienced.

Abdullah’s obvious love for his country and its people is infectious, and anyone who knows Oman would agree that readers will be taken with Oman’s unique charm and beauty too. The book’s potential as unofficial ambassador and guide has already been recognised. Several companies have reserved their own copies, as their logo can be printed to order on the title page.

Oman: The Big Picture is available at local bookstores in both hardcover (RO25) and paperback (RO20). The dust jacket is glossy and the hardcover matt �a nice touch.

Matthias hammer

Musandam dive expedition

Dr Matthias Hammer, managing director of Biosphere Expeditions, is a German-born biologist who is also an action man �a former member of the German Parachute Regiment and an avid diver. His current occupation that brilliantly fuses his passions for science and adventure has now brought him to Oman, a reconnaissance diving expedition in Musandam in pursuit of data to aid conservation.

Biosphere Expeditions arranges wildlife research and conservation expeditions that allow paying guests to get hands-on experience of wildlife conservation, working out in the field with local scientists. The Musandam reef project is not the company’s first venture in Oman �for several years it has organised expeditions to Dhofar to track the Arabian leopard �nor is it the first related to coral reefs. Biosphere Expeditions also has projects on reefs in Honduras.

The Musandam reef expeditions are part of an international coral reef monitoring programme called Reef Check, as is the Honduras project. The programme aims to track reef health and the human impact on the Musandam peninsula, and the results will be made available to the government to help frame sustainable eco-tourism and conservation policies. The data recorded during the recent expedition, and hopefully those to follow, reveal the health of the reefs.

The procedure to obtain the data is quite simple. Working in pairs, divers initially lay a 100m tape across a reef. After a pause of 15 minutes (to allow the fish to settle), they return to the reef to count the fish along the length of the transect line. Each diver carries a 2.5m-long pipe, which sets the boundary for the area to be studied. The divers record the fish, invertebrates and substrate that occupy the area 2.5m to either side of the transect tape. The project in Musandam logged sightings of a limited number of indicator species �underwater creatures that are simple to identify and count and which can indicate the health of a reef. Lobsters, for example, are easy to spot and, if absent, suggest overfishing. In fact, the Musandam reefs do not appear to be overfished. “What we saw was incredible,�Matthias said, adding that the diversity of corals in Musandam is one of the best in the world, with over 200 species present.

Passion-trek

Weekend beach cleanup

The weekend of October 23�4 saw nature lovers and ecology activists of Muscat come together for two days of hard work cleaning up the beaches and tourist spots of the Ras al Hadd. Concerned with the increasing numbers of Green Sea Turtles that have fallen victim to indiscriminate littering of beaches, Emilie Luquel and Pascal Beaudemoulin of Passion-Trek, a company that organises trekking tours in the sultanate, teamed up with the Bait al Baranda Museum, the municipality of Sharqiyah and the sheikh of Ras al Hadd, to organise a weekend cleanup. Emilie said tourists often flout government regulation prohibiting camping on turtle beaches to avoid disturbing their nocturnal laying and hatching habit. "The car park (for the Ras al Hadd beach) is often packed to capacity after dark with the four-wheel drive vehicles of the tourists. Many of them carry torches and ignore requests for silence. The turtles are often frightened and swim away without laying eggs." Call Passion-Trek at 92990189 or log on to www.sultanat-d-oman.com for further details.