CRITIQUE OF SAFA
By JOHN T.
SPIKE, Art Critic and Historian
“These pieces
remind me of sacred works that were formerly kept in museums in drawer
compartments. Such works would be taken out by scholars on occasions to be
studied and meditated upon with increasing respect.
“These drawings
have an incredible level of skill. Literally thousands and thousands of finely
drawn lines make up each image”, (Mr. Spike then pointed to his personal
favourite piece and said to the audience)…”it probably contains ten thousand
lines.”
“These are
drawings which take an inordinate amount of time to complete, and crucially,
are utterly dependent upon the complete finesse in creating the lines without a
single error.
“The pieces show
an astounding control of tonal values through the skillfull use of line. (Mr
Spike demonstrated his point by pointing to the gradations in one of the
works).
“I consider them
very exceptional pieces of work and will return to study them again”.
By James Langston
Art Educator
Art Consulate for the Florence Biennale
When I first met
Safa I knew I had met an extraordinary artists because of the intrinsic quality
found in his art works. Everyone walking by his display stopped and slowly slid
into his intricate pieces.
Each piece takes
you into another time period; they seem to have been taken from some monastery
study and made by monks under candlelight.
Every image that
Safa has made has the ability to leave an “after image” on your mind, forcing one
to come back to look again. Can one work contain so much information, such
strong emotions and a timeless quality? This man’s works do.
I consider Safa
Bute to be a master, a draughtsman of a long lost skill and one of the future
legends of Art.