Iconography- the science of identification, description, classification, and interpretation of symbols, themes, and subject matter in the visual arts. The term can also refer to the artist’s use of this imagery in a particular work.
Icon- a sign (as a word or graphic symbol) whose form suggests its meaning
"Self expression is not a substitute for clarity. Effort is a poor substitute for achievement. Discipline of thinking and forming opinions should be based on facts not specious or convenient 'theory' that works for the moment and passes for scholarship."
Wandering up Lo-Fu creek on a spring day
By Li Po
At the canyon’s mouth I’m singing. Soon
the path ends. People don’t go any higher.
I scramble up cliffs into impossible valleys,
and follow the creek back to its source.
Up where newborn clouds rise over open rock,
a guest come into wildflower confusions,
I’m still lingering on, my climb unfinished,
as the sun sinks away west of peaks galore.
...a way of seeing numbers and figures as keys to the stucture of the cosmos and as symbols of the archetypal world. -Critchlow
Islam as an artform without figurative representation uses language and mathematics to depict the unknown. It is a perfect jumping off point creatively, it gives the building blocks of language and communication visual qualities. qualities which both give root to and transcend from the very figures they are describing/proscribing.