Arabian Nights

Anila Quayyum Agha´s unique art transfigures places into magic spaces filled with mysterious beauty and resonance.

This is an invitation to take a ride on a magic carpet through time and space to land in the fascinating territory of the Arabian nights. Imagine the lace-like decorated Moorish palaces surrounded by beautiful patios set amidst orange scented gardens where water flows day and night, providing freshness and playing a never-ending melody that sounds like music coming out of a harp. Venture wandering through that romantic and enthralling scenery and you might just perceive the fleeting shadows of some figures among the vegetation and the colonnades. Magic is in the air and anything may happen.

This time, for a change…

...Touching Art was invited to the opening of a solo exhibition by Portuguese painter Alexandre Magalhães. Held on May 1, 2014, at Ericeira, a small beautiful fishing village a few kilometres north of Lisbon, we couldn’t miss this opportunity to offer you something different and to introduce a Portuguese artist.

Alexandre Magalhães, born in Lamego, a small town in the north of Portugal, and living in Ericeira, is a retired colonel who has dedicated his time to his favourite activity: painting. A self-taught painter, he started painting in 1995 having first tried his skills at watercolours. About ten years ago, however, he resorted to oil paint on linen canvas and a palette-knife. Since then, he has exclusively been using these materials and perfecting his technique through a long and patient process of experimenting, which gives him the pleasure of challenging his own limits, skills and talent.

Sunset Reflections

Most of us have had the experience of stepping into the meditative twilight of the huge nave of some gothic church somewhere in the world to wander in complete awe, looking at the tall, magnificent stained glass windows, filtering the most beautiful effects onto the floor. Light beams across the shadowy interior to flood the contemplative mood of the church with inspiring colourful patterns.

Something similar is created by the talent of Bing Wright in his uncommon art works made of photographs of sunsets as seen through broken mirrors. Born in Seattle and based in New York, this photographer has devised a unique kind of art which immediately reminds viewers of stained glass works.