Chapter One: Study Problem: This research examines the intellectual and cognitive shifts that the world has witnessed since the early 20th century, causing confusion in understanding the essence and conceptual level of art and its aesthetic language. These shifts have raised numerous questions about the primary indications set for the expressive direction within the field of visual perception. They inquire whether the objective aspect alone has the ability to address these intellectual queries or whether the self has the potential to autonomously address these inquiries. This led to an interchange of roles between the field of perception and the rational and emotional psyche, shifting from the realm of understanding and intellect to manifestations of the psyche. It also harmonized the embodiment of the infinite apparent through high professionalism while attempting to make the hidden known through intuitive glimpses without focusing on their realistic background.

Therefore, art navigated through its performative and visual problematic in the logical coordination of substance and phenomena through tangible effects on the mind and internal emotions based on sensory variations toward phenomena. This dialectic concluded that art, in both its forms, is a blend of the empirical with Pythagorean systems. Thus, it cautioned some artists to exercise precision and caution in expressing the visual domain and enriching the formative aspect, while it urged others to seek boldness and hastiness in expressing the domain and enriching the field. It also justified grounds for a third party, acting as an intermediary between precision and judgment and between boldness and haste. All this led to the variability of the formative domain between adherence to regularity or irregularity or through a moderate approach between them by grounding regularity and then limiting or vice versa. This might surpass some of the discovered material reality as an intelligible matter heading towards a deeper and more precise level, leading to creativity.

Ceramic art, as one of the branches of the visual arts, operates within this dialectic, provoking an exploration into the fundamentals of visual and technical texts and the logic of their interconnections and proposals, whether rational, emotional, or a middle ground between the two. Consequently, the current research problem revolves around the central question: What constitutes the regular and irregular in the works of the potter Shinyar Abdullah?

Study Significance

Aiding students interested in studying visual arts in general and ceramics specifically by presenting knowledge, aesthetics, and their interrelated associations with ceramic art. Additionally, the current research aims to provide scientific and aesthetic contributions to Iraqi, Arab, and global art institutions, as well as those interested in critical and contemporary artistic studies and specialists in adjacent genres.

Study Objective

The current research aims to:

Understand the regular and irregular aspects in contemporary ceramics within the works of potter Shinyar Abdullah.

Study Scope

• Subject Scope: Studying the regular and irregular aspects in the works of potter Shinyar Abdullah

• Geographic Scope: Iraq

• Temporal Scope: The research period is defined within the timeframe of (2017-2022)

Terminology Specification: Regular: The term "system" is derived from the Arabic language lexicons. It refers to "the thread used to string pearls. It is derived from the word 'pearl,' originally a source. 'Regularity' denotes consistency [1]. Ibn Manzur mentioned: "It means composition, he organized it systematically, orderly, and harmoniously. To systemize the pearl means to gather them in a thread. To organize is the same, organizing poetry and its composition, and organizing something on a similar basis. Whenever two things are linked or combined, they are systemized. 'System' refers to the properties of an entity, and the plural is 'systems' and 'anizat.' It refers to a gift or a biography. Their matter has no system, meaning no guidance, no connection, and no stability; it remains on a single system. Rocks adhered, they organized [2].

Irregular

The researcher did not find a direct definition of the term "irregular" as it intertwines with several terminologies that have similar connotations in contemporary ceramics. It approximates the political concept of chaos in terms of organic or social malfunction, conflicting inclinations and desires, lack of organization, or a doctrine advocating the abolition of political control within society, asserting that the state is the individual's greatest enemy, and its abolishment eliminates harm and evils. "Irregular" closely relates to chaos as both connote a lack of authority. As (Kant) sees it, chaos is free governance, meaning unrestricted freedom [3].

Operational Definition of Regular and Irregular

Regular is the process of mental dominance and focus in a logical, scientific, and geometric manner manifested in the clarity resulting from the simplicity of geometrically intertwined relationships, such as vertical and geometric lines, pure and explicit colors based on the logic of mathematical reasoning. On the other hand, irregular represents the process of imaginative and irrational dominance and the subversion of centers away from logic and science by arousing emotions and imagination influenced by internal sensory stimuli.

Theoretical Framework: Regular and Irregular in Ancient and Contemporary Philosophical Thought: Art moves within a fluctuating direction without continuity between the regular and irregular. Assuming the stability of art's movement within the framework of regularity alone would lead us to results determining the foreseeable direction or destiny of art in the near future, at the very least. It would move within a mechanism aimed at subsequent transformation. However, the penetrations and surprises inherent in the movement of art refute the prior assumption, making the irregular aspect equally as important as the regular. This drove the consideration of a non-sequential oscillation of art between the regular and irregular. This entails the absence of absolute control by one side of the duality in shaping the permanence of art's trajectory. By transitioning from the permanence of art's movement in general and its oscillation towards a specific artistic direction, one that can be relied upon and positioned on the axis of that permanence, it can be described as either regular or irregular based on its state when compared to other effective cases. However, this description of the direction should not arbitrarily influence the transition of that judgment to the permanence of art's movement. Exploring this problematic duality in the field of art leads us to the engines of this permanence and follows this duality within the continuous movement that defines the essence of art. This means studying the existence of art by observing a point not cut off from what precedes it or follows it. Art is akin to a musical note in which the melody flows; each tune emerges from the previous one in varying ways, not separately [4].

Researchers will delve into some philosophical propositions by some philosophers regarding the concepts of regularity and irregularity. Empedocles' (495-435 BC) philosophical system diverted from the prevailing idea of the "unity of the universe" present in the thought system before him. He sought to fragment the ancient established existence through the concept of the four elements (water, air, fire, earth), emphasizing that the principle of contrast or difference in existence is more important than the principle of harmony. He pointed out that this irregular contrast in the proportions of the four elements is the reason for the differences in perceived entities [5].

According to his view, the universe is subject to changes and transformations that can only be understood through the concept of its division into conflicting forces moving upwards or downwards, uniting or dispersing, an irregular instability that ensures the continuous motion of the universe through unexpected alterations. He stated: "Something grew at one time, became one after being many, then divided at another time, becoming many after being one." He is among the philosophers who argue for multiplicity and that the origin of things is multiple [5].

Therefore, irregularity is realized through constant change rather than regular stability. Irregularity generates absolute multiplicity instead of unified, regular unity. Everything beneath the moon is in a state of constant change, transforming into new forms and molds. Nothing remains, nothing is fixed, and nothing stays constant. Everything, in essence, exists irregularly within a fixed and stagnant context. This constant irregularity generates new variations and represents that instability in the form of water flow. We do not observe the same things twice simultaneously since everything at a particular moment is not the same in the following moment. This explanation aligns with his famous saying: "You cannot step into the same river twice, for new waters are always flowing around you" [6].

Transitioning to the idealistic thought of the Pythagoreans, we find that they adopted the concept of harmony, considering numbers as the origin of things. Harmony is perceived by human minds and souls. They conceived nature mathematically based on numbers, which, at the same time, is a human conception [7]. Hence, Pythagoras' thinking was grounded in his knowledge of the universe through the regular standards that enable him to connect the universe with abstract ideas and gain access to the spiritual. His contemplation stemmed from the fundamental principles of his creed, which are based on the effectiveness of the Sufi and mathematical, viewing sport as a path to structured knowledge that rises above the unpredictable sensory. The aesthetics in mathematics rise above the certainty of this knowledge that adopted a geometrical approach in solving its problems towards the universe at that time [5].

With the philosophers of Greek reason (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), philosophy shifted toward a methodical direction that greatly influenced the system of thought and subsequent philosophies. Socrates (469-399 BC) specifically categorized philosophy into pre-Socratic and post-Socratic eras due to the transformation it witnessed in its methodology. He laid the foundation for knowledge on reason, away from individual and sensory inclinations. Everything, according to him, has a specific nature, which is the truth discovered by reason. Thus, he distinguished between the subjects of reason and sensation. Reason explores essences, so Socrates initiated the idea that existence is a collection of reasonable things [8].

Plato (427-347 BC) observed the totality of previous philosophical opinions and combined stability and change (the regular and irregular). He adopted Socrates' view on essences, asserting that investigating existence requires elevating oneself from the perceptible existence to another imperceptible existence, i.e., from the irregular changeable to the regular stable. Thus, there exists another world, distinct from our world of visible and perceptible things. Plato said in this regard: "The forms are isolated, independent essences existing on their own in an upper world, and things or beings have a relationship only through participation. Humans cannot perceive these forms except through reason, as sensation cannot grasp anything" [9].

Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) in his philosophical discourse embraced the duality of matter and form that precedes every change, considering them eternal elements where one cannot exist within natural existence without the other. They coexist and interrelate; hence, matter is not void or distortion, as Plato perceived it, but rather existence in a potential state. The group of beings before taking shape and diversifying through form had an existence potentially. Once formed and named, they became actual existents. Here lies the root of the disagreement between Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle prioritized form over matter, whereas Plato gave priority to form and attributed it to matter [10].

Modern philosophy shifted towards mental and empirical scientific readings, opening doors to objective evidence while elevating human self-importance as a tool for experimentation, doubt, affirmation, and negation. René Descartes (1596-1650 AD) doubted sensory knowledge, both apparent and hidden, along with knowledge derived from the wakeful world. He questioned the capacity of mathematical reasoning to attain knowledge and doubted the existence of himself and the sensory world. His doubt became proof of existence. He didn't rely on absolute standards for appearances but embraced relativity. Descartes believed that our differing opinions don't stem from some being more intelligent than others but from our unique ways of thinking and perceiving reality differently. This includes thoughts and acceptance of duality between regularity and irregularity, allowing humans the freedom to understand and express truth by rejecting any authority imposing itself on thoughts [11].

Descartes emphasized the mechanism of transforming sensory perceptions (irregular) into mental perceptions (regular) and then into ideas. Sensory perception is hindered by a veil obscuring nature, requiring us to rid ourselves of logical thinking to reach the essence beyond appearance, to perceive without perception, and to think without thought [12]. External stimuli are unordered sensations that we organize spatially and temporally in our senses, becoming ordered perceptions (form) through sensation (the faculty) resulting from cumulative sensory impressions. The sum of these perceptions creates meaningful orderliness. Hegel described the objective sensory world as finite spirit due to its failure to reach infinity. Thus, it lacks the qualities of creative artistry. The sensory is finite, relative, and self-contradictory, prompting the soul to strive for infinite truth. The soul reasons the finite as a denial of itself, recognizing the path to the infinite. The reality of this infinite soul is the absolute spirit or higher truth [13].

Here, regularity and irregularity operate within a dialectical system, much like the interplay between subjective and objective elements. Hegel formulated art forms based on the dialectic between them, involving the active presence of the regular and irregular concerning their compliance with art or form. This origin leads to the plurality and diversity of arts and their aesthetic tastes, progressing from materiality to spirituality. Moving on to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900 AD), we find a clear shift and transformation in the equation of regularity and irregularity in thought and art. Nietzsche questioned all absolute idealistic assumptions about stable existence. In the nineteenth century, Nietzsche replaced becoming with being and action with essence, altering the values he called for. Nietzsche's shift allowed room to prioritize will over the rational order of the world. He longed for a return to the singular, to what's beyond sensation [14].

The irregular philosophers among the existentialists remained resentful towards the laws of material industrial civilization, as it led human society towards the abyss of isolation and dispersion. Therefore, they rejected all laws and values that claim validity based on the regularities and positions they see lacking any support from the arbitrary reality. Moreover, these lack stability and permanence. They are individuals for whom everything has become equal, based on measures of spontaneity and the pure quality they perceive in existence arbitrarily and randomly. In their nihilistic vision of existence, they reject any scientific assertion, whether systematic or ethical [15].

Contemporary Iraqi Pottery - A Study of Form and Style

Throughout its various forms, branches, and specialties, arts have consistently delved into investigating and exploring the underlying human emotional feelings that reside and pulsate within human life. They aim to uncover the latent desire for conscious and subconscious feelings throughout one's life journey [16].

Given that pottery, in general, is one of the significant branches of the visual arts, part of its importance lies in its intrinsic value directly associated with the mechanisms of its execution as an artistic work. It possesses distinctive characteristics and values that have made it a complex art form not easily amenable to changes in its vocabulary. This complexity is due to the technical working processes involved, such as firing, colors, chemical and physical reactions, measurements, and balance in proportions. All these factors make pottery heavily reliant on itself, fearing the slip into imitating and reproducing the work of others, as well as the fear of falling behind the global procession of the visual arts [17].

Modern pottery is a pottery made within a contemporary context. The contemporary image system has moved away from narrative towards a world where images compose themselves to address contemporary thought. They are formal systems and technical communications primarily. Pottery works, like other sculptural works, introduce concepts into society and create visual relationships and intellectual systems. Pottery art forms become systems of relationships that do not acquire meaning except through their relationship with each other, not by isolating some relationships as much as constructing functional sets and elucidating their regularity. Diving into the text to comprehend the surface structure, and then the deep structure, may not necessarily reveal religious or social values but rather formal values. In this context, the singular term may not signify anything in its natural sense when it enters into shaping but rather transforms significantly through its systems [18].

The peculiarity of modern Iraqi pottery emerged from the general nature of visual art, which began to merge with artistic experiments at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. These artistic experiments laid the groundwork for artistic styles that kept pace with social, political, and cultural transformations. In the 1960s, alongside the Fine Arts Institute, the Academy of Fine Arts was established to align with the University of Baghdad. Consequently, the number of individuals sent abroad to study various visual arts, including drawing, sculpture, and pottery, doubled.

Thus, since the early 1950s, art in Iraq has managed to carve out a prominent position in a field that isn't easy to stand out in because art abroad ventures into new and diverse directions. Much of what the creative mind produces abroad amazes with its subtlety and technicality. However, the experiences of Iraqi artists who attempted to compete with those arts yielded magnificent artistic works in painting and sculpture [19].

Consequently, these artistic experiments introduced a new experience never touched by the Iraqi artistic hand before; namely, the clay, shape, and color. This experience, in itself, was a discovery. For the first time in the history of the artistic movement in Iraq, pottery emerged with the appearance of the first ceramic piece from a simple kiln at the Fine Arts Institute in 1954. That small kiln held all the promises and expectations for the future. When the pottery department was established in the institute in 1955, the renowned British potter Ian Old was appointed to teach this subject.

These influences manifested themselves in contemporary Iraqi pottery, as previously indicated. Ceramic form was characterized by precision and the preservation of delicate harmony in the proportions between the mouth, neck, body, and base of the ceramic piece, along with precise pattern selection. All of these were characteristics of the strong influence of Valentinus in the beginning.

From the very beginning, when the Iraqi potter ventured to establish a purely Iraqi trend in the interpretations of the hint he symbolized and worked to develop, we see him captivated by the designs sculpted on the ceramic body. These designs become a mental cover under which the exertion and treatment data pour. By approaching what experimentation in the field of ceramic work can reflect, the Iraqi potter aims to create an environment rich in hypotheses and assumptions of technical form and designs. He manages to control and dominate them skillfully [20].

Thus, the potter succeeded in giving this art a significant role among diverse artistic means, advancing this art toward a distinct personality for each artist. The potters resorted to several artistic formulas, expressive forms, and aesthetic varieties through which they achieved their goals. Pottery became capable of accommodating all ideas and meanings, whether aesthetic adornment or human expression. However, the crucial aspect of this art lies in the significant transformation that contemporary pottery has undergone. Pottery is no longer merely a utilitarian concept but has transformed into an art capable of achieving all contemporary objectives similar to a painting, statue, or sculpture. Consequently, the individual work of the artist carries its own personality, sculptural composition, drawings, and colors, becoming an abstract or expressive painting. Pottery in contemporary Iraq has reached the highest levels of expression sought by any other art [21].

Among the characteristics of contemporary pottery in Iraq is its responsiveness to numerous diverse themes that the potter presented. This responsiveness is not limited in its interaction and various methods to one potter. One of the foremost potters in Iraq, Saad Shakir, is considered among the pioneers who laid the groundwork for a genuine Iraqi artistic pottery that harmonizes with global artistic movements.

Saad Shakir has surpassed the utilitarian capacity of his works to delight our senses with sculptural forms blended with innovation. Through his ongoing quest for harmony and perfection in form, this quest has, in turn, been reflected in the sculpted shapes. His ceramic sculptures exude vitality without neglecting the imitation of reality. Instead, they rely on utilizing its vocabulary but detach from it through symbolic interpretations that compel us to gaze upon them with pleasure and enthusiasm. He states, "The artist must comprehend his visible and invisible world and combine skill, imagination, and expression... My artistic works, at first glance, seem to have their own life... They constitute a city full of vitality with hundreds of common elements from the laws of growth in nature [22].

Tariq Ibrahim's pottery art, within his own understanding, demonstrates the ability to master abstracting and encapsulating ideas. We observe this through his artistic style, a natural growth of sensing what revolves around him and what he masters as an idea conceived within the created structure. It represents a natural growth of the artist's knowledge of his work units and artistic culture. After providing the ceramic form with suggestive possibilities and movements that create connotations and allusions, he establishes these connotations within a cultural and civilized context that is perceived through the discussion of the form language as an intentional language, eliminating all movements and gestures that are accidental or unplanned, stemming from the body of the work.

As for the experience of potter Muhammad Al-Arabi, we find dual artistic characteristics (self-referential and thematic) simultaneously. His ceramic subjects contain the depth of underlying motifs directed towards comprehending the environmental currents. His works involve the self through dynamic delineations that influence and are influenced by the interactions occurring with the morphological transformations affecting contemporary Iraqi ceramic subjects. His style includes causes of awareness linked to the comprehensive vision and functional uses of formal, chromatic, and technical structures.

This reflects in his ceramic works, where his technique contributed to enriching the aesthetic side of his achievements. The external texture of his ceramic coatings adopts a pleasing dotting for the eye, and his ceramic shapes do not repeat themselves. He has surpassed significant stages in his artistic experiments, which he influenced and developed through his studies in Romania.

No matter how varied the goals of art are, from the first human experiments to modernity and beyond, there was no death of the artist (the author). An end to the artistic discourse in its stylistic essence, shifting towards individual characteristics between analysis and composition, all transformations and variations were for the benefit of the style within the structure of the artistic text and its references. The diversity of research methods defines contemplative approaches but enriches the discourse because the signature ultimately shapes the artist's identity and the substance of the text, far from targeted or defined goals. With potter Abla Al-Azawi, we find the essence of this intricate internal path for art, closely related to people's daily lives. We perceive the significance of ceramic signs in forms with a dual structure between heritage and modern symbols. Art, for the potter, is an aesthetic extension of her external world without discontinuity, as her art doesn't carry a specific utilitarian function, as seen in traditional pottery. Instead, it completes dimensions of the general scene.

Regarding artist Maher Al-Samarrai's experience, he is considered one of the potters who presented remarkable works in this field, contemporary ceramics, based on his artistic choices that characterized his experience and the specificity of his works. Furthermore, his artistic experience in using heritage while adhering to contemporary artistic identity.

Potter Shaniar Abdullah, among contemporary potters, possessed creative potential in aesthetically and technically handling his artistic themes. He had creative energy, which he managed to develop through his studies in America, returning to enrich contemporary pottery in Iraq with techniques and technology he himself worked with, particularly the 'Raku' technique.

The potter did not cease, and through continuous experimentation, he influenced the mind in producing a series of experiments, forming his style. He scrutinized the form's transformations, with variable systems, and dissected the concepts of art in its European modernity, avoiding relinquishing an eastern vision bearing civilization encryptions. Regarding Shaniar Abdullah's artistic experience, it's a distinctive tributary, as he has expertise in the history of this art. He classified his creative vocabulary as an attempt to reveal and add, beyond the realms of apparent artistic style. Through his references, he deduced that many details could be contained within ceramic art through exceptional notation, especially in the complex shaping of natural elements, where he succeeded in attracting the aesthetic feature in its creative representations. He interlaced many of his formations in their structural composition and intertwined chromatic innovations, especially in the structural mass of the ceramic sculpture that he developed, where we find the transformation that preserved explaining the connection of the stable natural phenomenon in its form.

His ceramic works were more concise in exploring the secrets of his materials and subjects, which he approached through abstraction, deletion, and additive elements related to neighboring arts like painting and sculpture. Tunisian critic Khalil Gouia wrote about Shaniar Abdullah's works, 'Shaniar Abdullah's works can be accepted for their pure artistic essence and contemplated away from the symbolic charges that the reading carries, as the impact necessitates.'

The artist maneuvers with his forms, colors, and symbols to endow his creation with the discourse of modernity as an extension of the environment, its forms, and diverse symbols within the aesthetics of expression and its symbolic logic. The symbolic vocabulary, whether letters or others, will interplay with mural expression as an organic relationship. Modernity here only imposed limits on innovation, not imitation or reproduction. He made his materials and treatments responsive to topics selected to align with modernity, achieving goals where the aesthetic concern for heritage did not fade.

Similarly significant is the researcher's finding in the potter's ceramic productions a real continuity with the heritage and its varied vocabulary. His Islamic-themed ceramic formations are a clear stylistic mark, a genuine expression of the depth and richness of his experience. However, the technical treatments he employs positively impact the diversity of shapes and content within his experiment, allowing him to reach a level where he swiftly transitions to free expression of forms, letter formations, and their utilization through diverse perspectives.

Based on this, contemporary ceramic art in Iraq has made significant strides, establishing its actual presence grounded in a series of comprehensive achievements closely linked to technology. There is no separation between the quality of artistic data and the era of science governing all the fundamental formations.

Theoretical Framework Indicators

• Art lies between reality and unreality, stimulating unconscious phenomena to create a more truthful form than reality itself, by triggering internal sensations and perceptions

• The art system operates at the indicative level based on two lines: one delving into imagination and emotions, while the other mimics geometry and its mathematical logic, leading to art's manipulation between commitment and escape

• The structure of expression oscillates between the regular and irregular, enriching meaning sometimes and meaninglessness at other times, shifting expression and meanings from singularity to plurality and diversity

• Dominance of self-discourse over thematic discourse that views reality through the window of imagination

• Harmonizing contradictions: regular and irregular operate according to aesthetic transformations in art through their diverse directions, forming a crucial juncture for modernity in connecting scientific rationality and artistic sentiment

• The regular relinquishes its wild shaping mechanism for the irregular, through explicit shaping of lawlessness and rulelessness, infusing the inner energy of the artistic body

• Inherent irregularity relies on a pre-existing system in shaping, serving as an analysis of subsequent composition

• Emergence and dominance alternate between the regular and irregular, through the dominance of reason sometimes and sentiment at other times, in an inverse relationship. Reason's dominance supersedes sentiment, and vice versa; this duality accompanied the trajectory of modernity in agreement and rejection

• The art's direction from irrationality to rationality and realism signals a shift towards regularity in art.

Previous Studies

The researchers did not find a study that approached this research in terms of purpose and procedures.

Research Procedures: Research Community: The current research encompasses (25) contemporary ceramic works, identified after reviewing websites and corresponding with artists, to form the artistic space upon which the researchers apply their analytical readings within the bounds of regular and irregular patterns.

Research Sample

The research sample was selected purposefully, consisting of three (*) ceramic works based on the following justifications:

• The models are identifiable in terms of their completion year, technical working methods, and dimensions

• Presentation to a group of experienced professors (**)

• Excluding repetitive works in analyzing the sample models

• Evaluating the effectiveness of the selected forms and their impact on the aesthetic environment

Research Tool

The researchers relied on indicators resulting from the theoretical framework as benchmarks in analyzing the research sample, serving as anchors for the regular and irregular patterns.

The researchers adopted the descriptive methodology in analyzing the research sample, aligning with the research objective.

General Description 

This work consists of a specific form resting on one of its four corners, crafted using the plate technique. From the top, the upper corner was squared off and filled with randomly placed strips attached to the base. The piece was fired in a gas oven at a temperature of 1200°C using the plate and strip technique for its completion.

Work Analysis 

The current work by ceramic artist Shniar Abdullah resembles a geometric form colored in yellow, resting on one of its upright corners. In this work, the ceramist relied on displaying regular and irregular patterns by blending two shapes of simple geometric forms with non-objective compositions within a connected space, sometimes associated with emotional values and at other times disconnected from them. This approach aimed to direct certain parts of the work towards regularity and others towards irregularity, as seen in the extended strips above the square base. The geometric shapes, represented by triangles as the primary part of the work and squares in the upper part, are all mathematical formal concepts that are not independent of emotional values but rather connected to dynamic logical values through the artist's conscious rejection of interpretation, directing the display towards apparent formal regularity. The shape, in three aspects from the viewer's perspective, slips away from the subject to settle on the conceptual mathematical side represented by the triangle. This pushed the shape towards regularity due to the complete regularity of its sides. On the other hand, the other configuration at the upper end represented by the strips is irregular mathematically, and therefore, the visual reference to the geometric shape, which is supposed to be within a regular framework, was assumed by the artist within a compositional structure that resulted in the visual disclosure of irregular formations within the overall configuration of the regular geometric shape. This formed an aesthetic necessity that became distinctly and explicitly emphasized through partial treatments of the building units of the composition, as well as color treatments represented here by a single color, as if the artist here sparks a visual debate between the regular and irregular and their relational connection through a single color, meaning that the compositional divider between them has been nullified through color.

General Description

This ceramic work takes the form of an oval shape, close to circular, except for the upper part, which contains a set of colored strips extending vertically upwards, leaning against the body of the work, parallel to other slightly tilted white strips, also extending vertically and diverging downwards towards the base in a straight manner, forming the center of the ceramic body. Additionally, the ground has been delineated along with the right and left sides in the form of a central circular arc. The piece was fired in a gas oven at a temperature of 1200°C, using the plate technique for its completion.

Work Analysis

This ceramic work moves from conscious mental control in shaping the upper strips in a regular manner, relying on that control to shape the sequential, flat, and embracing lines towards the visual center of the model. Consequently, it relies on a state of regularity in structural construction. However, this regularity generates a sensory chaos through visual deception due to the dynamic visual disarray caused by the consistent lining of regular geometric shapes. This prompts the indication of the work's position between regularity and irregularity. Regularity dominates the visual stance through the elliptical geometric form's quasi-oval overlap, contributing to the overall stability and steadiness of the work. Yet, at times, it hides behind the deceptive chaos of the visual system, suggesting movement in the elliptical geometric form through its incomplete top, creating fleeting impressions of motion due to the mismatch between objective and subjective possibilities. The model, as an empirical visual subject, relies on the regular side due to the geometric regularity of the shape. Simultaneously, intentionally disrupting this regularity to cause a misinterpretation of visual perceptions by the brain due to the recipient's changing standpoint - clear stability on one hand and parallel lines on the other, resembling unstable flowing water in a river, appearing to the observer like undulating lines.

Model 1

Figure 1: Abstract Geometric Sculpture

Work Name, Year of Production: 2017, Ownership: Artist's Private Collection, Work Dimensions: Height 42 cm, Width 40 cm, Depth 10 cm

Model 2

Figure 2: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture

Work Name: Ceramic Formation, Year of Production: 2021, Ownership: Private Property, Work Dimensions: Height 55 cm, Diameter 50 cm, Depth 20 cm

Model 3

Figure 3: Bronze Sculpture on Rectangular Base

Work Name: Ceramic Formation, Year of Production: 2022, Ownership: Artist's Private Property, Work Dimensions: Height 42 cm, Width 20 cm

General Description

This shape consists of a rectangular ceramic piece divided into two equal halves. The upper half comprises interwoven and intertwined strips forming square shapes between them. The lower part consists of an equally dimensioned square with moderately equal angles. It was fired in a gas oven at a temperature of 1200°C, using the plate and rope technique to complete the work.

Work Analysis

The work follows a rectangular structure, brown in color at the bottom and interwoven with yellow and brownish hues at the top. The artist used rope techniques as an ancient method in shaping. The creation process involves working on two different surfaces and through two different stages. Through the intertwined surface at the top, the artist introduced non-objective and intricate lines using the rope construction method. The artist manipulated and adapted the material by shaping the ropes with different and intertwined measurements, creating a state of regularity and instability that gave the visual surface an apparent randomness and dynamic nature. The horizontal and vertical dialogical relationships between these ropes were not based on any achieved meanings but rather formed irregularly to display an aspect of chaos and disintegration, reflective of the general world disorder and art in particular. The second stage was executed through technical works using square and equally dimensioned plates, showcasing a high level of regularity through the moderately flat and stable surface. This phase does not deviate from conveying the objective side represented by regularity in shape and meaning. Hence, the work here returns to the recipient as an organized beauty, liberally based on the processes of disassembly and reassembly of sections made from scattered ropes at the top and the regular shape at the bottom in various geometric forms. The technical act represented by shaping through plates and ropes for clay material plays an outstanding role in organizing the visual space of the model, alternating between structural regularity on one hand and irregularity in content, and vice versa.

Chapter Four

• The sample models of the research exhibited a clear interest in the duality of regularity and irregularity within the structure of ceramic forms and the transition from the perceptible attribute to the cognitive one

• The specificity of geometric form blended with formal and technical treatments, enhancing the value of both regular and irregular displays, as evident in the sample research models

• The regular moves within a system of perceptual consciousness by returning the models to their initial form. This leads to the necessity of a conscious understanding of the summoned essence of the model, while the irregular moves through the contradiction of the model's original essence to establish a multi-open horizon of interpretations in accordance with the reception culture

• The irregular always prompts comparative thinking with the regular during the perception moment of irregular display to refute that regularity

• The irregular governs its authority over the regular through mechanisms of flattening, simplification, and reduction of the visual scope specific to the ceramic accomplishment, invoking the emotional aspect of the ceramic work

• The duality of regularity and irregularity was realized through summoning, invoking, and transforming. The regular emerges from objective data and undergoes analytical transformation towards symbolic display to eventually reach the irregular, which rejects the natural objectivity tendency

• Geometric shapes were characterized by regularity through their commitment to mathematical logic, addressing emotional values through shape purity and the flattening of their three dimensions. Conversely, arbitrary lines were characterized by spontaneous irregularity, resulting from momentary impressions generated by imaginative thoughts

• Some analysis results revealed an integration of regular geometric elements within irregular visually chaotic atmospheres, and vice versa, where irregular elements merged within the boundaries of regularity. This led to dialectical counterparts between regular and irregular aspects, stimulating cognitive effectiveness at the expense of the other

• Diverse techniques and their various combinations within a single ceramic achievement allow both regular and irregular aspects to manifest according to the type of technical work associated with them

• The meaning of regularity correlates with the outputs of conscious logic. The more cognitive and mathematical awareness dominates the ceramic form, the more authority the regular gains. Conversely, emotional sentiment, impulsive instincts, and spontaneity increase the authority of the irregular in the final form

• The intersection between the regular geometric and irregular chaotic aspects within a unified visual framework creates dialectical confrontations, where one dominates over the other according to the viewer's vision and knowledge system

• Departure from the objective regular logic towards an irregular state is based on the mechanism of analysis and reassembly through the duality of deconstruction and construction by conscious will or through emotionally divergent consciousness

Recommendations

Provide libraries with essential resources on artists' works in general and potters' works specifically through journals, publications, and discs to ease the effort for researchers and serve other art fields from these vital experiences.

Proposals

Study the regular and irregular aspects of some contemporary Iraqi potters.

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2. Ibn Manzur. et al. Lisan al-Arab. vol. 13, Dar Al-Fikr, n.d.

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