Imani Bilal | Behind the Veil: Musings of Muraqaba
ON VIEW
September 10 - October 10, 2021
RECEPTION
Friday, September 10, 5-8pm
LOCATION
231 10th Ave
New York, NY
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Imani Bilal (b. 1983) is a contemporary abstract painter and poet based in Jersey City, New Jersey. Her work is deeply inspired by the many states of the human condition and is rooted in her spiritual (Islamic) practices. As she explains, “I strive to convey the notion of Tawheed (oneness), the idea of primordial matter, chaos, and calm; of all things sharing a source and being connected to an infinite mound, inclusive of the human experience."
Her language is versatile and her approach, unconventional, working with acrylic, ink, and resin to articulate emotion and promote connectivity through color and movement. Bilal, who has been experimenting with paint since childhood, has developed a unique process of her own. She often paints while seated on the floor to pour her whole body into the composition, using her hands, mouth, and found objects to create an array of effects that become part of an intricate yet fluid work of art.
Bilal's first solo show in New York City, Fingerprints of Ruh (2020), curated by Nemo Librizzi, was met with enthusiasm and led to gallery representation by Chase Contemporary Gallery in SoHo, NYC and East Hampton, NY. Inspired by the Islamic concept of “ruh” or breath/inner soul/spirit, it explored the idea of soulmates from an unorthodox perspective and featured lush palettes and undulant shapes against pure obsidian wash.
Dubbed "a force to be reckoned with in the contemporary art world" by Forbes Magazine, her work has captivated many. Bilal says abstraction is rebellious by nature and fuels her artistic freedom. She is among a small community of Black Muslim American women who push the avant-garde and has since created space of her own to exhibit the works of underrepresented emerging artists through her gallery.
Chase Contemporary is pleased to announce the Manhattan leg of its first solo exhibition with Atlanta-based painter Imani Bilal. Behind the Veil: Musings of Muraqaba is a collection of new abstract works by Imani Bilál centered around concepts of mindfulness and meditation. The paintings to be exhibited exude explosive, enigmatic energy that traverse and celebrate the many phases of meditation. The show will open in the gallery’s Chelsea location on Friday, September 10th.
Behind the Veil: Musings of Muraqaba focuses on the Islamic/Sufi concept of “Muraqaba” (Meditation), a term translating to the act of taking care of or watching over. It implies that with meditation, a person tends to their spiritual heart and soul, and through this process acquires insight about itself, its surroundings, and its creator. In ancient Arabic, the word murāqabah referred to one who would watch the night sky. They would scan the sky in hopes to see the first signs of early stars to begin their journey.
Bilal’s canvases, with their glistening resin surfaces acting as barriers between the viewer and the undulating shapes and colors below, take on the characteristics of a mirror. Each color, stroke, and smear that Bilal paints collectively become an expression of this introspection and a journey into the spiritual world. The viewer is able to see not only a slight reflection of their physical self, but Bilal hopes they will also find reflections of their inner selves within the painting.
Bilal cites major second generation Color Field painters such as Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis as inspirations – through technique, composition, and palette. Much like these titans of the movement, her technique starts with diluting paint which is then applied onto the canvas. She takes an active role in the whole process, laying the canvas down and using any angle she feels is necessary. Bilal is constantly making compositional decisions about where her colors should go, how they move, and how they react with one another. On the one hand, she technically channels Frankenthaler and Louis, while also remaining conceptually true to the founders of the Color Field movement – Rothko, Newman, Still – by expressing a yearning for transcendence and the infinite.
