UITM SHAH ALAM, SELANGOR

Faculty Of Art And Design

ATH475 – ISLAMIC ART

TASK 1 - ESSAYS

Prepared for :

Madam Nurul Huda binti Mohd Din

Prepared By :

1) Fatin Athirah Binti Mohamad Ishak ( 2022909799)

1 a : Explain Two (2) from the four basic underlying creative processes. Provide example to support
your answer.

Creative process means that an individual can or is capable of creating or producing something .
This means that every creative human being is able or able to create anything that is felt either
internally or externally. The creative results that are manifested reflect a person's efforts in
creating something whether it is literary or non-literary. In the creative process, humans are
usually egocentric, which is the nature to fulfill their instincts and clarify their position. This
means that the creative process will undergo a meditative development to find the reality of
humanity.

There are four stages in the creative process which is Imitation, Denaturalization, Stylization
and Abstraction. The creativity process allows for new discoveries and understanding. The most
common manifestation of the creative system is a series of steps that involve different types of
thinking and problem-solving.

Most of the literature that deal with the creative process, good as it generally is, tends to ignore
or not being emphasize the important initial phase of creativity, which is imitation. Imitation is
a process where an artist imitate the nature to produced arts. Thus, imitation is a symbolic
process in the sense that we do not only just mimic but also construct goals and sometimes
new perspectives. In summary, when people imitate others' work, they try to infer its purpose
or goal, and interpret this within their own cognitive framework.

Further , the concept of imitation and representation will be clarified. It will be argued that art
is both representational and imitational. It is imitational in the senses that reflects are particular
aspect of reality with which a given work of art is concerned. It is not imitational in the sense of
copying or mimicking. We therefore disagree with Plato’s idea of art as imitation for which he
dismisses art as useless
Other than that, another basic prosess of the creative process is the abstraction in Nature.

The creative process had undergone stages of imitation and stylization of nature ( the
denaturalization of nature), and finally the stage of abstraction of nature. The composition of
the abstract form can be organic or geometric, or both.

Nature has been an immensely popular subject in art since the very beginning. Nature in
abstract art has been a recently growing trend. Ever since humanity realized a small rock could
grind a long lasting mark on a caves’ wall – nature has been one the very first things early
humans decided to depict in their art.

Fast forward to modern day and age, Nature is still a very popular subject in art both
by artist and by art lovers all around the world. It is one of the few subjects we all share no
matter when we live, what language we speak or what religion we subscribe to.

Abstract art attempts to convey a thought or an idea using shapes, colors and textures instead
of trying to accurately mimic visual reality .Depictions of nature in abstract art come in many
different shapes and forms. As spectacular and awe inspiring nature can be – Some artworks
manage to top the visual reality of nature and convey an entire abstract natural scene with a
few well placed strokes of a brush.

The human brain has evolved over the eons to quickly recognize and identify certain shapes and
objects.Our brains have grown so good in identifying certain shapes and patterns.We
sometimes see meaning where there is none.For example, How many times have you see a
cloud that looks like a face or an animal? This tendency is called Pareidolia and it is something
we all experienced sometime or another.

Truly great abstract artists have the ability to reduce and refine an entire visual scene into its
core components.As in, The bare minimum it would take to cause our minds to perceive the
scene as what it is meant to be.This ability to distill the complex visual reality into simple
shapes, textures and colors while maintaining the visual meaning is truly awe inspiring.
In conclusion, obviously, one has to learn a language before he or she can talk, similarity, it is
nearly impossible to create anything without the foundation. And just because the artist uses
the background from previous works or different culture does not mean they are not creative.
Examination of the artist suggest that analogical thinking is important to the creative process. In
general, access to anduse of history, myths, legends, experience of other people and different
cultures and creativity are related process.

1b:

Interpret the depiction of landscape in the mosaic for the interior Dome of the Rock, during Umayyad
period

The Dome of the Rock is a key landmark of an Islamic shrine. This landmark is located in
Jerusalem, on the Temple Mount, an ancient platform often referred to as “ The Noble
Sanctuary” by muslims. This landmark that took 3 years to complete from 1688 to 1691 and is
the oldest Islamic building in the world
From an architectural perspective the Dome of the Rock has a lot of meanings and symbols that
relate to religion, especially the Islamic faith. This is because the building is a monumental
landmark for the formation and creation of islam (Hillenbrand 1999). In addition, the site on
which the Dome of the rock has been constructed is regarded holy by both of the Jewish and
Christian communities. For this reason, then construction of this building at the site is a symbol
of the victory of islam as the new faith over these other religions. Structurally, the dome of the
rock has an octagonal shape, a shape that symbolizes the link between heaven and earth.

The overall form of the architectural dome follow the Byzantine model of churches and
martyriums ( structures designed to house relics) and the mosaics decorating its interior draw
extensively on Byzantine mosaic techniques and aesthetic in their motifs while combining them
with Sasanian iconographic elements.

Most of the decorative themes of the mosaic are vegetal and featuring vase, cornucopias, and
are known as “ jewels “. The mosaic has their own decorative themes , but the jewels that
almost located as exclusively on the inner face octagonal columnade is easy to diffrenciate then
the others and been used to ascess the significance of the Dome of the Rock. the jewels is more
outstanding is because of the provocative types of jewels used. While gems and mother-of-
pearl adorned other parts of the building, these jewels differed because the walls were lined
with actual crowns, necklaces, earrings, and other ornaments. These special mosaic is different
from the others because it was purely decorative, they surrounded and and faced the central
holy face. Another important aspect from these mosaic is there are all identified as royal or
imperial , and they reflect in various way different degrees of symbols of holiness,power,
sovereignty in the official art of the Byzantine and Persian empires.

Furthermore, wall and ceiling mosaics became very popular in late antiquity and adorn many
Byzantine churches, including San Vitale in Ravenna and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. Thus,
the used of the mosaic reflects an artistic tie to the world of late antiquity. Late antiquity is a
period from 300-800, when the classical world dissolves and the medieval period emerges.

The mosaics in the Dome of the Rock contain no human figures or animals. While islam does not
prohibited the used of figurative art , its seem that in religious buildings, this proscription was
upheld. Instead, we see vegetative scrolls and motifs , as well as vessels and winged crowns ,
which worn by Sasanian kings. Thus , the iconography of the Dome of the Rock also includes the
other major pre Islamic civilization of the region, the Sasanian Empire , which the arabs armies
had defeated.

The mosaic inscription was meant to be read, at least in parts, for the writing is clear and
certain key words or phrases are highlighted. It too made a statement about the victorious
presence of Islam in the Christian city of Jerusalem and conveyed a sense of mission and of
eschatology. The ultimate receiver of the messages of the inscriptions is as in a Christian church
the divinity, Allah, in this case. Jesus appears here in his Moslem role, the mosaics exalt God’s
glory and supreme sovereignty, they highlight a paradisiacal landscape, various subtle visual
markers hint at Moslem beliefs about sanctity.