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拍品专文
“As soon as they dry, colours should feel as fresh as spring water and as clear as glass. Once I begin to sense that I could almost plunge through the painting’s surface as in a pool or a mirror, I realise that the work is finished. Days or weeks later, when I look back with surprise at what was actually accomplished before my eyes, I cannot help but wonder what images that particular surface reflects from my memory.” - Kamal Boullata (K. Boullata, Palestinian Art 1850–2005, London, 2009).
Mare Nostrum II (Our Sea II) belongs to one of Kamal Boullata’s most evocative bodies of work, in which geometry becomes a vehicle for memory, place, and light. Painted in 2001, the painting belongs to the Mare Nostrum series, whose title—Latin for “Our Sea”—invokes the Mediterranean as both a physical presence and a shared cultural space. Here, Boullata transforms the experience of looking at the sea into a sensuous interplay of geometric form and luminous colour, held in delicate equilibrium.
The composition is constructed from overlapping squares and diagonals that appear to shift, intersect and recede across the surface. Rather than functioning as a rigid framework, these forms produce moments of depth, reflection and apparent movement. Planes of blue and green are punctuated by warmer hues, suggesting the movement of water and the changing effects of light. Variations in the handling of paint introduce subtle differences in tone and texture, softening the precision of the underlying structure. The resulting effect is almost prism-like, as colour appears to be refracted across the surface, giving the painting transparency, depth and a sense of weightlessness. Mare Nostrum II can consequently be experienced almost as a threshold: a surface that remains emphatically two-dimensional while suggesting water, reflection and an expansive space beyond the canvas.
The dialogue between geometric precision and atmospheric sensation is fundamental to Boullata’s working method, which he described as moving between the mechanical and the organic. Beginning with pencil, compass and ruler, he established a carefully measured system of proportions and intersecting forms; once this structure was in place, colour and brushwork brought an intuitive, organic dimension to the composition. The geometry thus becomes less a fixed system than a framework through which colour can unfold. In Mare Nostrum II, this process is particularly evocative, the mathematical order of the squares anchors an image that otherwise seems to shimmer, recalling the reflective surface of the Mediterranean while remaining unmistakably abstract.
The Mediterranean held particular significance for Boullata. Having lived for extended periods in France and later settling in Berlin, he remained deeply connected to the visual and cultural landscapes of the Mediterranean. The Mare Nostrum series can be understood within this wider experience of movement and displacement: the sea is at once a geographical reality, a historical connector and an imagined space of return. The title therefore carries a resonance beyond its literal reference to water, suggesting a shared sea whose shores encompass multiple histories, languages and cultures. Boullata maintained a house in Menton on the Côte d’Azur and spent much of his time close to the sea. Yet his engagement with the Mediterranean was inseparable from the deeper influence of his Palestinian heritage and, above all, his native Jerusalem. As a child, Boullata spent many hours captivated by the geometric patterns and calligraphy of the Dome of the Rock in the Old City, an early encounter that would leave a lasting impression on his artistic vocabulary. In Mare Nostrum II, the overlapping translucent squares recall the intricate ornamental structures of Islamic architecture without directly reproducing them, transforming these early visual memories into an abstract language of remarkable luminosity. The Mare Nostrum series can thus be understood as bringing together two landscapes central to his experience: the Mediterranean, encountered through its light, colour and expansive horizon, and Jerusalem, preserved through memory and the geometric vocabulary of its architecture. The coexistence of symmetry and asymmetry within the same canvas evokes a sense of harmony and balance, underscored by a deep sense of sublime.
Mare Nostrum II was exhibited soon after its creation, first in Menton at the Palais de l’Europe, Galerie d’art contemporain, in Confluences Nord/Sud (2001), and subsequently in Montreal at the Musée du Château Dufresne in Mare Nostrum (2002). The latter exhibition was devoted to Boullata’s Mare Nostrum works and forms an important presentation of this body of work.
Born in Jerusalem in 1942, Kamal Boullata studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome before continuing his education at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, D.C. His artistic practice developed alongside extensive research and writing on Palestinian and Arab art, and his work moved fluidly between painting, printmaking, and the study of visual traditions. After extended periods in the United States and France, Boullata settled in Berlin, where he was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in 2012–13.
Boullata’s work has been exhibited at numerous leading international institutions, including the British Museum, London; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Institut du monde arabe, Paris and Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. His work is also held in prominent collections, including Bibliothèque Louis Notari, Monaco; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Saeda and Ramzi Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF), Beirut.
Mare Nostrum II (Our Sea II) belongs to one of Kamal Boullata’s most evocative bodies of work, in which geometry becomes a vehicle for memory, place, and light. Painted in 2001, the painting belongs to the Mare Nostrum series, whose title—Latin for “Our Sea”—invokes the Mediterranean as both a physical presence and a shared cultural space. Here, Boullata transforms the experience of looking at the sea into a sensuous interplay of geometric form and luminous colour, held in delicate equilibrium.
The composition is constructed from overlapping squares and diagonals that appear to shift, intersect and recede across the surface. Rather than functioning as a rigid framework, these forms produce moments of depth, reflection and apparent movement. Planes of blue and green are punctuated by warmer hues, suggesting the movement of water and the changing effects of light. Variations in the handling of paint introduce subtle differences in tone and texture, softening the precision of the underlying structure. The resulting effect is almost prism-like, as colour appears to be refracted across the surface, giving the painting transparency, depth and a sense of weightlessness. Mare Nostrum II can consequently be experienced almost as a threshold: a surface that remains emphatically two-dimensional while suggesting water, reflection and an expansive space beyond the canvas.
The dialogue between geometric precision and atmospheric sensation is fundamental to Boullata’s working method, which he described as moving between the mechanical and the organic. Beginning with pencil, compass and ruler, he established a carefully measured system of proportions and intersecting forms; once this structure was in place, colour and brushwork brought an intuitive, organic dimension to the composition. The geometry thus becomes less a fixed system than a framework through which colour can unfold. In Mare Nostrum II, this process is particularly evocative, the mathematical order of the squares anchors an image that otherwise seems to shimmer, recalling the reflective surface of the Mediterranean while remaining unmistakably abstract.
The Mediterranean held particular significance for Boullata. Having lived for extended periods in France and later settling in Berlin, he remained deeply connected to the visual and cultural landscapes of the Mediterranean. The Mare Nostrum series can be understood within this wider experience of movement and displacement: the sea is at once a geographical reality, a historical connector and an imagined space of return. The title therefore carries a resonance beyond its literal reference to water, suggesting a shared sea whose shores encompass multiple histories, languages and cultures. Boullata maintained a house in Menton on the Côte d’Azur and spent much of his time close to the sea. Yet his engagement with the Mediterranean was inseparable from the deeper influence of his Palestinian heritage and, above all, his native Jerusalem. As a child, Boullata spent many hours captivated by the geometric patterns and calligraphy of the Dome of the Rock in the Old City, an early encounter that would leave a lasting impression on his artistic vocabulary. In Mare Nostrum II, the overlapping translucent squares recall the intricate ornamental structures of Islamic architecture without directly reproducing them, transforming these early visual memories into an abstract language of remarkable luminosity. The Mare Nostrum series can thus be understood as bringing together two landscapes central to his experience: the Mediterranean, encountered through its light, colour and expansive horizon, and Jerusalem, preserved through memory and the geometric vocabulary of its architecture. The coexistence of symmetry and asymmetry within the same canvas evokes a sense of harmony and balance, underscored by a deep sense of sublime.
Mare Nostrum II was exhibited soon after its creation, first in Menton at the Palais de l’Europe, Galerie d’art contemporain, in Confluences Nord/Sud (2001), and subsequently in Montreal at the Musée du Château Dufresne in Mare Nostrum (2002). The latter exhibition was devoted to Boullata’s Mare Nostrum works and forms an important presentation of this body of work.
Born in Jerusalem in 1942, Kamal Boullata studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome before continuing his education at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, D.C. His artistic practice developed alongside extensive research and writing on Palestinian and Arab art, and his work moved fluidly between painting, printmaking, and the study of visual traditions. After extended periods in the United States and France, Boullata settled in Berlin, where he was a Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in 2012–13.
Boullata’s work has been exhibited at numerous leading international institutions, including the British Museum, London; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Institut du monde arabe, Paris and Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. His work is also held in prominent collections, including Bibliothèque Louis Notari, Monaco; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Saeda and Ramzi Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF), Beirut.