GHANY`S SHADOWS AND MOVEMENTS A LONGING FOR MORE… Ghany’s art reflects the same inner purity and quiet solitude as that of his character. When looking at one of his shadow paintings, the unencumbered background space is both meditative and calming. It is here, within this calm, that the subject of the painting is revealed and contemplated. The viewer is simultaneously comforted and evoked when viewing the subject for the first time. The painting subject, once ordinary and perfect, is now fragmented and transformed. The obscurity of the action the shadow reflects draws the viewer in and touches a memory. This memory reflects a brief moment in time, a recognizable shadow gesture of a person’s movement or that of a stationary object found in the urban landscape. The ambiguity of the interlocking shapes and spaces between the subject and background suggest a story line that is open to interpretation. Here the viewer must complete the unfinished narrative without critical information that explains what the artist is really trying to convey. In many ways, the implied action juxtaposed against a serene stillness mimic’s the duality of the human experience. We are free to push the limits of our own imagination and enter into the world of possibilities. The context of past, present and future is blurred and we are left without boundaries that stifle and define one reality. Compositional elements and forms are created to ground and secure the openness of the space, hence, the viewer….kind of like an archetypal grounding rod. That which is all around us everywhere has two forms; the shadow of what exists and the gestalt of what we think exists. If you ask Ghany to explain what he is thinking or feeling when he sits down to paint, he can’t answer you directly. He paints from a purely emotional platform, drawing from his own repertoire of life’s experiences. Whether he chooses to paint figurative or abstract, the process and emotive quality of his work is the same. Ghany is a contemporary artist who has never swayed or compromised his artistic views and ideals for over 40 years.  His art is both original and personal. Too, it provokes questions and stirs within us a longing for more. He is deeply concerned about the world’s injustices and strives to communicate our connectedness to each other in the art that he creates. Ghany has a universal mind and a broad philosophical world view. He feels completely comfortable and at home anywhere he goes and is indiscriminate and nonjudgmental in his dealings with people. So it comes as no surprise that the themes Ghany chooses to paint are universal, they speak to the masses. The clothing on the bodies he paints may reflect a particular region or country, but the gestures belong to all human beings, the objects, to every corner of the world. Another key component to Ghany’s figurative work is the sparse minimalistic clarity his paintings reflect. His use of elemental color adds additional depth and meaning, as does the smoothness of the canvas surface. The ambiguity of the content he paints is contradicted by the clean intentionality and purity of the actual paint style.  You can see every line, brush stroke, shape and form very clearly; yet, this same clarity or essence escapes rational thought when trying to connect the dots. The simplicity of his painting style is characteristic of how he thinks. “Life is not hard,” he says, “it is simple. It is our thinking processes that convolute our ability to see and live our life simply that contributes to mankind’s suffering and sabotages peace”. Unlike many artists who express the angst of the world and the unresolved inner workings of their own mind in the art that they create, Ghany’s paintings come from a place of joy. He can only paint when he feels good, when he feels centered. His intention has always been to expand our awareness of the beauty that exists all around us in everything that we do. Beauty reaches beyond what is physical into the depths of our heart. It is here that the charismatic and magical appeal of recognizing love in something familiar and memorable unites us as one. Ghany’s paintings tell each of our stories, no matter the age or the culture we grew up in. Our shared experience as human beings is the underlying theme of Ghany’s paintings and his way of uniting the human race under one umbrella.  J.M. Gregory