I’m just going to come out and say it without the falsity of niceties such as ‘with all due respect’ - describing the above as Islamic art is not honest. I’m not going to paint all art that was on display as such, but what you’ve got featured here - no.
They are continuations of what the Western liberal arts mindset deems as acceptable in art to the exclusion of those ideologies that it perceives to clash with it - at different times in history, Islamic, Sino, and Japanese art amongst others. That is, until Western art’s traveling companion, Western imperialism, has beaten and trodden said opposing ideology into submission. At that point local culture and art are relegated to museums and ceremonies for the quaint ohh-ing and ahh-ing of Western peoples.
Japanese tea ceremonies, kimonos and architecture were considered Satanic by America and the Japanese vermin so long as Japan opposed America’s colonialist push in Asia; as soon as Japan gave up after being nuked and was sufficiently strangled artistically during the Occupation, they became beautiful art forms for the liberal arts crowd. Until they see Muslims in the same state, they will continue to ignore the existence of our art - our poets - our composers - our very history of art and influence worldwide in art.
If you disagree, ask yourself this - why is it that the world only knows and is only taught the names of Bach, Mozart an other white men as history’s greatest composers and artists? Why do we not know the names of the great composers of the East? Why continue with art forms derived from Hindu India or Western painters known for their debauchery, racism, and indecency? Tom Wise speaks extensively on white privilege and the fact that we rarely think about the fact that what we define as art encompasses only European-derived art forms.
No, I am not an artist beyond the fine art of stick men, but that I cannot thus critique I cannot agree with. I came, I observed, I saw a comment box. Maybe someone has something to chew on now, and maybe no one does.