Syria

cultural narratives elias ayoub artwork

Elias Ayoub

Biography Elias Ayoub, born in 1986, is a contemporary artist based in Beirut. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University and a Master…

Anas Albraehe

Born in Syria in 1991, Anas Albraehe is a Beirut-based artist who
primarily works in painting and theatre. In 2014, he received a
bachelor’s degree in Painting and Drawing from the Fine Arts
University of Damascus, Syria.

Lutfi Romhein

Born in Kraia, Syria in 1954, Lutfi Romhein studied sculpture at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, Italy in 1985. The artist works with
wood, marble, plaster and steel. He sculpts aerodynamic, smooth
and soothing figures, animals and abstract shapes.

Jean Boghossian

Born in Aleppo, Syria in 1949, Jean Boghossian is an abstract, multidisciplinary
artist of Armenian descent. He studied Economics and Sociology at Saint Joseph
University (USJ) in Beirut while working for the family jewellery business. In 1975,
he moved to Belgium to escape the civil war in Lebanon.

Safwan Dahoul

Born in Hama, Syria in 1961, Safwan Dahoul was initially trained by leading modernists at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus before travelling to Belgium, where he earned a doctorate from the Higher Institute of Plastic Arts in Mons.

Nizar Othman

Nizar Othman is a visual artist born in Lebanon and of Syrian descent. Outhman began his professional career working as a journalist and caricaturist, for which he was awarded the Bronze medal at the Guangxi international comics in 2007 (University city Guangxi); the “Excellence Award at e Competition of Guangxi international comics in 2007 (University city Guangxi) China; a Special Honorary Prize – Competition of the International Journal of Rhino (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in 2008. 

Mohamad Khayata

Mohamad Khayata obtained his degree in Fine Arts from the Damascus university. Since moving to Lebanon in 2012, he has held three solo exhibitions at 392RMEIL393 in 2013, 2015, and 2017 and participated at the Beirut Art Fair in 2017.

Walaa Dakak

Walaa Dakak was born in 1978 in Damascus, Syria. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Damascus and later studied Contemporary Art and New Media at the Université Paris.

Bahram Hajou

Bahram Hajo was born in Syria in 1952. He studied at the Fine Arts
Academy in Dusseldorf Germany and in 1984 graduated from the
Kunstakademie Münster.

Nihad Al Turk

Born in Aleppo in 1972, self-taught artist Nihad Al Turk’s work focuses on the existential crisis of the individual caught up in power struggles between good and evil. Based in Beirut, Al Turk situates his work against a backdrop of literature and philosophy, painting a recurrent cast of mythical demons, outcasts, and antiheroes.

cultural narratives alaa sharabi artwork

Alaa Sharabi

Alaa Sharabi was born in Damascus in 1988 and studied printmaking at the University of Damascus where he was later appointed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts. His bold paintings combine rich palettes with frenetic lines and complex compositions.

Ismail Al Rifai

Ismail Al Rifai was born in Mayadin in 1967 and studied Fine Art at the University of Damascus. Al Rifai has served as a member of the Syrian Fine Arts Syndicate as well as the UAE Fine Arts Society and currently works as a researcher in the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah.

Mohannad Orabi

Dubai-based painter Mohannad Orabi was born in Damascus in 1977 and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Art in Damascus in 2000.

Ghassan Nana

Born in Homs in 1953, Ghassan Nana studied at the Fine Arts Center in Homs and the University of Damascus. His luminous, delicate oil paintings are executed in a classical impressionist style, capturing soothing pastoral scenes that possess a haunting and ethereal quality.

Mouteea Murad

Born in Homs in 1977, Mouteea Murad studied Fine Arts at the University of Damascus. His works are inspired by traditional Islamic art in which spirituality and formalism are unified in geometric form.

Mohammad Labash

Born in Daraa, southwest Syria, in 1989, Mohammad Labash studied painting and drawing at Damascus University.

Ahmad Kleige

Ahmad Kleige was born in Aleppo, Syria in 1964. He studied at the Fathi Mohamed Fine Arts Center in Aleppo.

Nazir Ismail

Born in Damascus, Syria in 1948, Nazir Ismail took part in over 60 exhibitions throughout his artistic career. His colourful oil paintings capture human figures and roosters in warm, earthy colours, while his watercolours on paper convey the realities of modern Syria.

Thaier Helal

Born in Syria in 1967, Thaier Helal has been a student of notable painters such as Mahmoud Hammad during his studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus.

Zouhair Dabbagh

Zuheir Dabbagh was born in Aleppo in 1953 and studied at Damascus University …graduation project was about the massacre of Tal al-Zaatar (1976).

Noor Bahjat

Born in Damascus in 1991, Noor Bahjat lives and works in the United Arab Emirates.

Walid Agha

Walid Agha was born in Damascus in 1953 and studied Visual Communications at the University of Damascus before establishing his own silk-screening workshop.

Khalid Takreti

Khalid Takriti is a renowned Syrian artist, who was born in Beirut in 1964.  He graduated from the Architecture and Painting Academy in Damascus after which he worked as an architect in Damascus’ General Directorate of Antiquity and Museums.

Walid El Masri

Walid El Masri was born in Syria in 1979. Prior to receiving his BA from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus in 2005, he studied mosaic-making.

Shadi Abousada

Shadi Abousada is a painter, installation and video artist whose work explores the complex socio-political reality and absurdity of his cultural milieu.

Houman Al Sayed

Houman Al Sayed is best known for his large-scale paintings that depict alienated, shock-ridden subjects, whose disproportionately sized, swollen faces attest to their confusion and isolation.

Ghylan Safadi

Gylan Safadi was born in Sweida, Syria in 1977 and studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus.

Elias Izoli

Born in Damascus, Syria in 1976, Elias Izoli is a self-taught painter whose creative talents were revealed at a young age.

Edward Shahda

Born in Hama in 1952, Edward Shahda studied at the Suhail Ahdab Center in Hama and the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus, before undertaking a residency at the Anatoli Klankov Atelier in Russia

Bassem Dahdouh

Born in Damascus in 1964, Bassem Dahdouh studied art at the University of Damascus and received his PhD from Egypt’s Helwan University.

Barsoum Barsouma

Born in Hasaka in 1947, Barsoum Barsouma studied painting at the University of Damascus before working as a patterning expert at the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums.

Aula Al Ayoubi

Aula Al Ayoubi was born in Damascus in 1973 and studied mathematics and educational sciences at the University of Damascus.

Boutros Al-Maari

Born in Damascus in 1968, Boutros Al-Maari studied printmaking in Syria and received a Doctorate in Social Anthropology from EHESS in Paris, France. Both cultural contexts are reflected in his distinctive paintings.

Tarek Butayhi

Born in Syria in 1982, Tarek Butayhi studied painting at Damascus University. He focuses on female figures in his work that seek to challenge traditional representations of femininity in art – namely, the role of women as muses.

Kais Salman

Kais Salman was born in Tartous, Syria in 1976 and lives and works in
Beirut. He studied Fine Art at Damascus University. His paintings use satire to subvert the normalisation of greed, consumerism, and vanities that have come to define our globalised present.

Abdullah Murad

Abdullah Murad was born in Homs in 1944 and studied Fine Arts at the University of Damascus. His experimental paintings and drawings are influenced by the fauvist colour palette and the abstract expressionist movement.