Golden - Dark - Diamond Era

 

Painting Title: Golden - Dark - Diamond Era
Painting Artist: Deni “Je” Junaedi
Date: 2022
Size: 49,7 cm x 27,8 x 3 panels
Materials: Watercolor on canvas with watercolor gesso

This painting is about Islamic Civilization in three periods: past, now, and future. The past is the golden era, now is the dark era, and the future is the diamond era. I use appropriation aesthetics for this triptych painting. It means, I use other artworks for my painting.

There are three panels for my painting.

The first one is the golden era of Islamic civilization. This period has lasted since the time of the Prophet Muhammad saw, Khulafaur Rashidin, Umayyad Caliph, Abbasid Caliphate, to the Ottoman Caliphate. There are many scholars, scientists, and artists at this time. At the top of this panel, I paint a spherical astrolabe created by Muslim scientists around 1480. At the bottom, I use the Alhambra, the central government palace built by Muslims in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. In these golden ages, Islam has inspired Western civilization that was under the dark ages.

Then, the second panel is the Islamic dark era. This period is from the collapse of the Ottoman Caliphate until now. At this time many Muslims are adopting western values, such as secularism, liberalism, pluralism, capitalism, and democracy. The culture of Muslims is largely controlled by Western civilization. Even, many Muslims around the world have been hurt, such as Muslims in Rohingya, Syria, Palestine, and others. To illustrate this condition, I used the fireworks display at the Riyad Season 2021 festival. In the sky, I paint a crystal ball or an orbuculum, the transparent ball usually used by shamans. This object also appears in the Salvator Mundi painting which was collected by a prince from the Middle East.

The last panel is the diamond era for the world. It is for the future of Islamic civilization. Islam is going to lead the world and prosper it. Several hadiths tell of this, such as news about the arrival of Imam Mahdi or about the reign of the Khilafah ala minhajin nubuwwah. For depicting this condition,

I painted diamonds with the words “La Ilaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah”. This Arabic calligraphy was inspired by the flag of the Prophet Muhammad saw, al-Liwa. At the bottom of the canvas, I painted a mosque in space which was inspired by the illustration by Peter Gould on the islamimagined.com website. I've been obsessed with this image since 2016.