شكلو في لوحة تجريدية وعصرية.

In this sentence, شكلو means it looks like, apparently, or it seems.

It is a very common Levantine expression used when the speaker is making a guess or inference. Here, it is not being used literally as his shape/look.

In everyday Levantine, شكلو often works like a fixed expression meaning apparently / it looks like, so it does not always match a noun in the sentence.

So in شكلو في لوحة..., it is basically impersonal: looks like there is...

But if you are talking directly about a specific feminine noun, you can make it agree, for example:

اللوحة شكلها تجريدية
= The painting seems abstract

Because colloquial Arabic spelling is flexible.

• شكلو reflects the spoken Levantine pronunciation more directly, with an o sound at the end.
• شكله is also very common and follows a more familiar Arabic spelling pattern.

In informal Levantine writing, both can appear.

Here, في means there is / there are.

So:

في لوحة
= there is a painting

This is one of the most common Levantine ways to express existence.

Yes. في can mean both in and there is/are.

The meaning depends on context. In this sentence, the natural meaning is existential:

شكلو في لوحة تجريدية وعصرية
= It looks like there is an abstract and modern painting

So here في does not mean in.

Because Arabic usually leaves out the present-tense verb to be in simple sentences.

English says:

There is a painting

But Arabic does not need a separate present-tense is here. The idea of existence is already expressed by في.

If you wanted the past, you could say:

كان في لوحة
= There was a painting

لوحة can mean several things depending on context, such as:

• painting
• artwork
• panel
• board

In this sentence, because it is described as تجريدية and عصرية, the most natural meaning is painting or artwork.

Because they describe لوحة, and لوحة is a feminine singular noun.

In Arabic, adjectives agree with the noun they describe in gender and number. So you get:

• لوحة تجريدية
• لوحة عصرية

Both adjectives are feminine singular to match لوحة.

Because that is the normal word order in Arabic.

Arabic usually says:

noun + adjective

So:

لوحة تجريدية
literally = painting abstract

This is normal in both Levantine and Modern Standard Arabic.

Because in Arabic spelling, the conjunction و meaning and is written attached to the following word.

So:

وعصرية = و + عصرية
= and modern

This is completely normal Arabic spelling.

Because the phrase is indefinite.

لوحة تجريدية وعصرية means:

an abstract and modern painting

Not:

the abstract and modern painting

In Arabic, if the noun is indefinite, the adjectives are indefinite too. If you wanted it definite, you would say:

اللوحة التجريدية والعصرية

If you remove شكلو, the sentence becomes more direct:

في لوحة تجريدية وعصرية
= There is an abstract and modern painting

With شكلو, the speaker sounds less certain and more interpretive:

شكلو في لوحة تجريدية وعصرية
= It looks like there is an abstract and modern painting

So شكلو adds the feeling of a guess, impression, or inference.

A rough pronunciation is:

shaklo fi lawḥa tajriidiyye w-ʿaṣriyye

A few notes:

• شكلو may sound like shaklo or sheklo, depending on the region.
• لوحة is roughly lawḥa.
• The ending -iyye in تجريدية and عصرية is very common for feminine adjectives in Levantine.