Ayyam
Gallery
Kais
Salman Solo Exhibition (Damascus)
January 30 - February 25
Opening: Saturday, January 30, 7-9 PM
Prada
Ayyam
Gallery Damascus is pleased to present the solo
exhibition of contemporary Syrian painter Kais Salman,
to be held January 30 - February 25. Since first
exhibiting with the gallery in 2007, Salman has
quickly become a fixture at Ayyam, participating
in such standout events as "Ayyam's Summer
Festival," "Shabab Uprising," and
"The Young Collectors Auction (I and II)."
This forthcoming solo show will highlight how the
young artist has fervently pushed the boundaries
of contemporary Arab art with striking subject matter
and bold approaches to painting.
Born
in Tartous, Syria in 1976, Salman graduated from
the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus in 2002. During
his time there, he displayed a great capacity for
drawing the human figure, an interest that remains
paramount to him today. An exciting talent whose
provocative works have captured the attention of
the regional art scene, he has exhibited throughout
the Middle East, and in Europe and the US. His paintings
are housed in collections in Syria, the Gulf, North
Africa and Europe.
Salman's
latest body of work, "The Fashion Series,"
is a tour de force. Seemingly insatiable figures
dominate large expressionist canvases. With heads
that resemble those of Willem de Kooning's women,
Rubenesque bodies that teeter on the verge of the
grotesque, and a degree of satire that resembles
the staggering compositions of 1920s Germany, Salman's
subjects are meant to be visually shocking. That
this combination has both formulistic and conceptual
elements to it is the artist's intention, "I
want to concentrate more on the expressive quality
of the figure. It makes my paintings simpler and
more expressive and spontaneous."
Noticing
the growing materialism and vanity that seems to
have absorbed much of global society, the artist
offers profound observations on this mounting epidemic
as he seeks to "highlight how this obsession
with fashion and brands is moving people from the
spiritual to materialism." Opting to create
his own type of "fashion model," Salman's
work undermines existing notions of beauty and glamour,
exposing the dangerous ways in which we have become
consumed by the disposable, empty and intangible
nature of objects and goods. "I am concerned
with the materialism that is now very common in
our lives," affirms the artist. "It is
making us increasingly uglier and a bit aggressive.
Thus our inner self is reflected in an ugly way."
At
once poignant and disquieting, his canvases attack
the senses with brazen figures, assured markings
and a dramatic palette. With distorted frames and
hallowed eyes Salman's protagonists stare blankly
at the viewer. Although they appear scantily clad—their
bodies exposed as heaps of flesh that the artist
has depicted using various mediums and coarse brushwork—they
seem to disappear beneath layers of makeup. Some
even wear masks, as though hiding their true identity.
If his models seem timid yet audacious, it is because
the artist seeks to emphasize the overwhelming contradictions
of this consumerist culture. That one might be overcome
by Salman's women and his projection of twenty-first
century ways of life is exactly the point. With
a mature sense of color and design and an apt command
of media, the artist's gift for painting makes his
brand of social commentary all the more impacting.
Ayyam Gallery - Mezzeh West Villas - 30, Chile Street
- Samawi Building, Damascus, Syria. Tel: +963 11
613 1088. Fax: +963 11 613 1087
Sat-Thu, 10AM-8PM
info@ayyamgallery.com
http://www.ayyamgallery.com
