Al Rahman – a solo exhibition of Nastaliq calligraphy by visiting Iranian artist Ali Pasandedih – is currently underway at the Art & Soul gallery, in Water Front mall, Shatti Qurm. The exhibition, which opened on January 16, will be on till January 25.

Pasandedih, who travelled from Iran to Oman for his 16th solo exhibition, has created unique Persian calligraphy works, in a style known as Nastaliq which is considered the most popular of calligraphy styles. His artworks include phrases from the Holy Quran as well as verses from some meaningful Iranian poems.

Nastaliq is an Arabic script which was developed around the 15th century and is characterised mainly by a tendency for the script to slope downward from right to left. It was used largely for Persian poetical writings as well as in Urdu and Malay manuscripts.

Having started out his journey in art during his school days, Pasandideh had always dreamt about becoming a professional artist. In 1999, a the age of 21, he chose to move to Mashhad to embark on a professional career in art and eventually became a member of the Iran Calligraphers Association. Currently, he is considered one of the best teachers of calligraphy in Iran.

Exhibiting his work since 2002, Pasandedih also has the distinction of achieving the first place for Nastaliq calligraphy art in Mashhad in 2005.

Over the past 18 years of his professional career, he has held numerous exhibitions and conducted instructional art courses, in Iran as well as other countries. His work has been popular mostly in Turkey, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, besides Iran.

“Nastaliq calligraphy is known as the ‘bride of Islamic calligraphy’. All the works in this exhibition represent my personal experience, and in addition to beauty, you can see a part of the meaning of words in the works,” Pasandedih told Muscat Daily.

“I’m very interested in poetry and poetry acts as my driving force,” he further said, adding, “In this exhibition, poems by Hafez, Akhavan Sales and Ahmad Shamloo are displayed. I am very interested in mystical poems and I try to share this spirituality with art lovers.”