Manuel Keene is a lifelong artist, whose illustrious career as a scholar and curator deepened and intensified his profound appreciation of Islamic art. In these works, he explores the potential for the invite, timeless order of geometric art, engaging with what he describes as the ‘mysteriously perfect’ in various forms. Combining a deep knowledge of art history and formal traditions with an instinctive connection to both nature and the devine, Keene’s paintings, sculptures and poetry aim to produce in the viewer - as they do in the artist - a state of elated awe.

Manuel Keene is the former curator of the al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait, one of the most important focuses for the study of Islamic arts in the world. His publications include Islamic Jewelry in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Treasury of the World: Jeweled Arts of India in the Age of the Mughals for the al-Sabah Collection of the Kuwait National Museum and articles published in Encyclopedia Iranica.

CODA  

An individual is greatly blessed to be occupied with creating art. As such, one shares some of the kind of "Heaven on Earth," which is surely the experience of fine musicians.

Nevertheless, it is also true that a work of an artist of whatever kind is ultimately completed only with its internalization by at least one other person, this being the case whether the assessment be positive or negative, whether  the work be appreciated or found unworthy.

It is my hope that there will be those for whom something herein will provide a pleasurable experience and positive feelings, which one might even hope would in some cases be visited by a "touch of the sublimer."

Manuel D. Keene
21st December 2023

Certain Observations on the Nature, History and Status of Geometric Pattern Art

Manuel Keene provides a thorough explanation of geometric pattern art on pages 102-110 in Voices, Visions, Poems and Paintings of Manuel Keene. The author encourages you to learn more about this artform through this information.