Artist pairs American images and Quranic verses

It takes a while to copy 141 chapters of an ancient religious text. And into graffiti? That’s taken artist Sandow Birk five years and counting. “The Word of God: Sandow Birk’s American Qur’an”

Sandow Birk

Andy Warhol Museum

117 Sandusky St.

412-237-8300

It takes a while to copy 141 chapters of an ancient religious text. And into graffiti? That’s taken artist Sandow Birk five years and counting.

The Andy Warhol Museum will host the exhibit “The Word of God: Sandow Birk’s American Qur’an” until May 1. It is the first work in a series titled “The Word of God,” which will exhibit artistic interpretations of religious textscreated by five different artists, each belonging to one of the five major world religions: Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Birk’s work reimagines the Quran — the Islamic holy text — within modern American society. The text’s traditional calligraphy and intricate ink designs, known as arabesques, are replaced with graffiti lettering and scenes of American life.

Depictions of the Quran can draw great controversy. Only a few years ago, Muslim extremists in Denmark plotted to assassinate journalists at a newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, that published cartoon images of the Prophet Muhammad, an action which is strictly forbidden by Islamic law. Birk consciously avoided portraying the prophet in this piece and removed depictions of Muhammad from other works as a result of these threats.

To avoid a similiar backlash against the Warhol museum, Tresa Varner, curator of education for the Warhol Museum, worked with an advisory committee of community leaders from each of the religions represented in “The Word of God” series.

Among the Islamic delegation was Luqman Abdus-Salaam, the director of the Light of the Age mosque in the North Side. Varner said the community reaction was positive, as people understood that Birk’s exhibit was “an artist’s interpretation, not the actual Qur’an,” and thus not a desecration of the holy text.

Verner said that of course not every person could be satisfied with the work. Some raised concerns that the exhibit was by a non-Muslim Western artist. But most understood that Birk’s intent is to show his personal experience with the Quran. Part of that experience is with the artwork.

The flowery, decorative calligraphy of the Quran was a time-consuming art, especially in the days before printing presses. Every copy of the Quran was lettered by a scribe who imparted his own writing style to the chapters. On his website, Birk describes how he pays homage to this dedication by handwriting each surah, or chapter of the book, in his own graffiti style.

The Quran has traditionally been left unillustrated except for arabesques along its borders because of stigmas against idol worship. By decorating the Quran with pictures, Birk is imparting a new artistic style to the ancient text. But his methods are not so new.

The Quran is written as the words of God spoken through the angel Gabriel to Muhammad. So the book is a nonlinear work, with each surah dedicated to a lesson or idea on which the reader can meditate. According to his website, Birk reads each surah and meditates upon its meaning and style. He then transfers the images in his head to the canvas. This style of reading draws from traditional schools of Quran study.

Reading styles vary among Muslims. Rebecca Denova, a professor in the religious studies department, said in an e-mail that along “regional/culutral lines, [there are] differences of opinion” on the reading of the Quran and the use of imagery within. For instance, Youssef Abdelwahab, a sophomore studying anthropology and a practicing Muslim, said that he borrows from several different schools of reading when he picks up the Quran.

Abdelwahab’s understanding of written Arabic is limited, so he reads the Quran in English when he wants to understand the literal messages laid out in the text. When he rereads the Quran in Arabic, he moves slowly through the verses, enjoying the “aesthetic and tonal qualities” of the words. Birk’s work is written in English, but his images reflect the contemplative reading that American Muslims like Abdelwahab employ.

Most often, the illustrations are of the lessons portrayed in modern life. A passage about Noah’s flood is accompanied by a docked Chinese cargo freighter, and a collapsed freeway sits beside a surah about the great earthquake that marks the end of the earth.

In addition to Birk’s personal reflections on the Quran, Varner hopes that visitors can come away with a better appreciation for the text. With the fiery rhetoric surrounding Islam and mosque-building, it is important for Americans to understand the Quran as another Abrahamic text like the Bible or the Torah, Varner said.

The three texts share much in common, including the story of Noah, and all came from the same region in a similar span of time. “VeggieTales” and countless other portrayals have sought to make the Bible accessible in modern American life. By attaching common scenes of American life to the Quran, Varner hopes Birk can make this text speak to daily experience as well.

Birk doesn’t focus only on Americans in the continental U.S.. Several panels portray American troops in a desert village, and one uses an image of the World Trade Center burning. Varner explained that these images are not meant to exploit negative stereotypes or add to the persecution of Muslims post-Sept. 11, but that they represent events that have been powerful forces in the lives of all Americans.

Varner believes that the exhibit might speak “more to American Muslims than immigrant Muslims” because the exhibit is more about the Quran within the terms of American culture than Islam in general.

The next exhibit in “ The Word of God” series will be Helène Aylon’s “Liberation of G-d,” a feminist portrayal of the Torah.