Artists notes : 2010
if muhammad : a temporary wall drawing commission for the entrance foyer of the Frac des Pays de la Loire.
March 2010 to Jan 2011.

Many would agree that what characterizes an individual artwork is its point or points of origin. But division exist as to weather or not it is necessary to know these 'points' in order to understand, appreciate or profit from a work. Like many, I think not; a good work establishes and communicates its own provenance, actual or otherwise, without the need of a supporting text. But this does not mean that a little background information is not useful. Problems only arise when this information is taken to be the solo meaning of a work, or the primary discourse in which the work is to be engaged: 'When opening one door there is a danger of closing several others'. With this in mind 'if muhammad' should not be discussed exclusively in terms of the proverb from which it originates. The connection between the two is certain but it is not linier; it's more like a 'jump' or series of spontaneous hyperlinks on route to resolving a plastic solution to the stubborn and persistent echo, ... "If the mountain will not come to Muhammad. Muhammad must go to the mountain", which contrary to popular believe originates not from the Koran but from legend. The story goes like this. ...

'One day the Prophet Muhammad was preaching to a gathering of people. In order to be convinced of the teachings of the Prophet the people asked to see a miracle. The Prophet Muhammad agreed saying he would pray that God would command a mountain to come to him upon which they would then give praise to God for granting the miracle. The Prophet prayed but the mountain did not move. Whereupon Muhammad proclaimed that if the mountain would not come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain. Adding that God had in fact shown mercy to an unbelieving people. For had God permitted the mountain to come to Muhammad, they would all have been crushed!

This then is the origin of the proverb that existed solely within oral language until the English philosopher Francis Bacon in 1625 popularized the storey in his work 'Essays'. Today the saying is commonplace. Its innate pragmatism and humble yet ironic diplomacy make it a perfect expression to fit innumerable situations requiring compromise, with respect to a stubborn willed or immovable object, person, or institution. The success of the proverb led to a second with which one could say. "Ah! The mountain has come to Muhammad", expressing surprise when the immovable does in fact comes to us. It also exists in reverse 'If Muhammad will not go to the mountain. The mountain will come to Muhammad'. The difference is subtle but the result is the same. Muhammad and the mountain end up in the same place. And this is the situation we find in the drawing, the topographical image of a mountain emanating from the name Muhammad. The image is not quite a true tautology, as a mountain does not explain Muhammad nor does Muhammad explain a mountain, but as a form the two are clearly one and the same. And maybe this is where the meaning or provenance of the work lies in the overlapping of language and form. Where language develops form and forms both natural and man made, develop language.

This might be an end to it if it where not for the inclusion of the word 'if' suggesting a condition. How is one to interpret this 'if', if we do not know the proverb or do not make the connection in our own language? Is 'if muhammad' the name of a pop band, a boxer, or does it mean something else ...?

Neal Beggs : 2010.