FEATURES ARCHIVE

26 March 2010 | Fine Art - Other | Article

Fateh Moudarres: A Man of the People

"It looks childish, but it is not childish. In my paintings one can see, how much I love human beings, in my art I stand near them, when the power of fate and oppressive structures beset them."

Fateh Moudarres is highly regarded for his sensitive depictions of everyday struggles within the hostile atmosphere of 1960s Damascus. He was especially moved by the life of ordinary people in the Syrian countryside. For them, what was often incorrectly characterized as an idyllic existence was in fact a way of life marred by problems caused by social upheavals. His paintings illustrate the plight of these people, his sensitivity to the helplessness of his subjects seems both nobly executed and alarmingly poignant to 1960s Damascus. It is no wonder Moudarres is so widely exhibited, and his works are permanently hung in the Syrian Ministry of Culture, the National Museum in Damascus, the Dummar Museum and the Presidential Palace.