An Odyssey of Dreams: A Decade of Paintings 2003–2012

An Odyssey of Dreams: A Decade of Paintings 2003–2012 presents a major body of Basil Alkazzi’s work from a pivotal period in which his practice shifted decisively toward expansive metaphysical landscapes and luminous gouache compositions. The exhibition traces a sustained exploration of transformation, memory, and perception, where natural forms - flowers, light, skies, and seascapes - become vehicles for psychological and spiritual states rather than descriptive imagery. Across this decade, Alkazzi develops a highly distinctive visual language built on repetition and variation, returning to motifs such as flight, ascension, the triangle, and floral abstraction. These forms operate as recurring structures through which ideas of renewal, transcendence, and cyclical time are articulated. The works move fluidly between representation and abstraction, often dissolving the boundary between observed landscape and internal vision. The exhibition was curated by Judith K. Brodsky and toured major institutions across the United States, allowing for a sustained engagement with Alkazzi’s evolving late-career practice. Installed as a sequence of chromatic and thematic progressions, the exhibition emphasised the meditative intensity of the works and their relationship to both natural phenomena and metaphysical inquiry. Rather than presenting a linear narrative, An Odyssey of Dreams frames Alkazzi’s practice as a continuous unfolding - a decade defined by deepening abstraction, refined material sensitivity, and an increasingly expansive sense of interior and exterior worlds as interconnected spaces of perception. The exhibition toured the following institutions across the United States: Bradbury Art Museum, Arkansas State University, Arkansas, USA — August 29 – September 29 2013 Anne Kittrell Gallery, University of Arkansas, Arkansas, USA — November 4 – December 6 2013 Rider University Art Gallery, Rider University, New Jersey, USA — February 6 – March 2 2014 Rosenberg Gallery, Maryland Institute College of Art, Maryland, USA — March 22 – April 20 2014 Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Nebraska, USA — May 16 – July 27 2014 Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York at Purchase, New York, USA — August 17 – October 19 2014