Fantasy features and breaking the horizon of expectation in the popular drawings of Sadr Al-deen Ameen

Abstract

Research summary

This study, titled Features of Fantasy and Horizon of Expectation Disruption in the Folk Drawings of Sadr al-Din Amin, investigates the characteristics of fantasy within this artist’s body of work. It comprises four chapters:

Chapter One – Methodological Framework: Addresses the research problem, namely: What are the features of fantasy and horizon of expectation disruption in the folk drawings of Sadr al-Din Amin? It also covers the study’s significance, objective, scope — limited to the artist’s works produced in America between 1999 and 2015 — and key terminology.

Chapter Two – Theoretical Framework and Prior Studies: Encompasses two sections: fantasy between the real and the surreal, and the aesthetics of contemporary folk painting, followed by key indicators drawn from the theoretical framework and previous literature.

Chapter Three – Research Procedures: Covers a research population of 30 models with a sample of 3 artworks, adopting a descriptive-analytical methodology alongside statistical tools and sample analysis.

Chapter Four – Findings and Conclusions, most notably:

1. The artist draws his symbols from his surrounding environment and local mythology, blending botanical, animal, and human forms to reconstruct primal or ritual scenes as a means of recovering collective memory through a visually symbolic and abstract language.
2. The artworks carry embedded structures reflecting an unconscious desire for stability, shaping a world drawn from the artist’s deep social unconscious.

Key conclusions include:

1. The artist’s imaginative process operates beyond rational logic, emerging from the unconscious — and must be perceived accordingly by the viewer.
2. The depth of the artist’s imaginative space enabled him to produce narratively rich works that reimagine surrounding reality, thereby disrupting the horizon of expectation.