In LA, the horror of 9/11 through the eyes of a Muslim artist who found a different path

LOS ANGELES TIMES
By Deborah Vankin
The artist Abdulnasser Gharem in front of "Hemisphere" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. His exhibition, "Pause," features work in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES---As an Arab and a practicing Muslim, the idea of “The Path” is something Abdulnasser Gharem still thinks about daily — how to forge his own path in life and what that might look like, the divergent paths he and high school friends took or the path of Islam itself, in which “God guides us to the straight path like 100 times a day when we pray,” he says. One 2017 work, “Camouflage,” show an army tank, with a bright orange daisy planted in its cannon, in front of a colorful Iranian mosque. It’s brimming with hidden messages. [link]

Los Angeles County Museum of Art: “Abdulnasser Gharem: Pause,” (April 16, 2017–July 2, 2017); 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA; (323)857-6010; lacma.org
Abdulnasser Gharem's stamp painting "Camouflage." (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
Arab American News: Abdulnasser Gharem's rubber stamp painting "Hemisphere"
"The Stamp (Moujaz)" by Abdulnasser Gharem (Saudi Arabia, Khamis Mushait, born 1973)2013SculptureHand carved wood with embossed rubber faceOverall (Diameter) (a) Face): 7 1/2 × 36 in. Overall (Diameter) (b) Handle): 40 × 12 1/2 in. Gift of Private Collection, Switzerland (M.2017.16a-b)Islamic Art

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