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拍品专文
‘…there's a difference between dreams, visions, and the visual work, which places me directly in front of the countless possibilities of images in our memory that we try to suppress as they remain hidden in our subconscious or inner world. All my attempts have been with the aim of remembering some of these images.
(The artist in conversation with M. Farhat, in Jadaliyyah: The Origins of Dreams: An Interview with Safwan Dahoul, 13 March 2016, accessed online).
Syrian artist Safwan Dahoul is renowned for representing intimate moments of humanity. His paintings have always been a self-reflection at large and his autobiographical expression and the poignant scenes or emotional states he paints with his recurrent female protagonist reveal personal events and emotions that reflect in his repeated use of the title Rêve (Dream) for his works which measures progressive highlight his ever expanding reflection of his own personal dream. To quote him ‘to be alive, one must dream. My dreams have not ended yet' (ibid.). His art is therefore first and foremost a contemplation a human psychosocial state and estrangement rapidly evolving in contemporary society.
Since the early 2000s, his works took on a different style where large scale female figures present a more or less angular profile expressing the ideas of these emotional states. Within these works, Dahoul adopts a colour scheme that is prevalently black, white and grey showing a decided departure from what can be considered his blue period. The theme of his paintings and their significance has thus been adeptly mirrored in his choice of restricted colour palette.
Along with these muted and subdued colours, his works are devoid from details of placement often suspended in a sea of greys or blacks that direct the viewer’s attention to an imposing female figure that fills the confines of the canvas and that, is beautifully shown in the seminal Rêve 31 from 2011.
The downcast figure assumes a sculptural quality with her stone-like skin haunting in its exposure. She bows her head and a motherly tenderness radiates in her arms covering her chest and her curled fingers. She is lightly dressed in black. Her contorted body is limited to the frame and seems to float in the black and white square-patterned background emphasising the allusion to the surreal and the enigmatic. This choice of homogeneous and cold surroundings underlines the feeling of solitude of this female figure in a foetal position. Echoing her position, the viewer notices that the woman is pregnant. And taking a closer look, one ironically notices her own reflection as she is pregnant with a representation of herself as a foetus, as if it is her and her only that has the ability to be reborn. The exquisiteness of this painting lies in the countless questions that arise as to the meaning of this self-alienation.
The present work is of major importance as it was painted exactly the year of the start of the Syrian Civil War when Dahoul’s country was under dramatic tension and when simultaneously, with his heart shattered, that same year, Dahoul moved to settle in Dubai. Following the sad passing of his wife Nawal three years prior, the intensity of his feelings is masterfully translated into his sombre painting.
Apart from an inner self-inspiration, the lines, contours and the way the body parts of the figure seem deconstructed suggest Dahoul’s exposure to Cubism whilst simultaneously reminiscent of byzantine iconography. It is no doubt that the influences of Assyrian and Flemish art remain deep rooted within his works.
Although a sense of sorrow and death resonates in his fantasy dream-like world, this underlying oppressive state is countered with a sign of hope that the artist subtly inserts. The glow of hope in Rêve 31 is reflected in the pregnancy and expectation of rebirth. The state of his subconscious flows on his canvases whether on a human level or a nation level creating a fascinating play on perceptions, in the same way one can find a myriad of interpretation for one single dream.
Celebrated as a prominent member of the Damascus art scene with his unequalled series Dream of the past thirty years, Dahoul has marvellously been an icon for bridging modern and contemporary Arab art with his timeless aesthetic and the consistency of his technique.
(The artist in conversation with M. Farhat, in Jadaliyyah: The Origins of Dreams: An Interview with Safwan Dahoul, 13 March 2016, accessed online).
Syrian artist Safwan Dahoul is renowned for representing intimate moments of humanity. His paintings have always been a self-reflection at large and his autobiographical expression and the poignant scenes or emotional states he paints with his recurrent female protagonist reveal personal events and emotions that reflect in his repeated use of the title Rêve (Dream) for his works which measures progressive highlight his ever expanding reflection of his own personal dream. To quote him ‘to be alive, one must dream. My dreams have not ended yet' (ibid.). His art is therefore first and foremost a contemplation a human psychosocial state and estrangement rapidly evolving in contemporary society.
Since the early 2000s, his works took on a different style where large scale female figures present a more or less angular profile expressing the ideas of these emotional states. Within these works, Dahoul adopts a colour scheme that is prevalently black, white and grey showing a decided departure from what can be considered his blue period. The theme of his paintings and their significance has thus been adeptly mirrored in his choice of restricted colour palette.
Along with these muted and subdued colours, his works are devoid from details of placement often suspended in a sea of greys or blacks that direct the viewer’s attention to an imposing female figure that fills the confines of the canvas and that, is beautifully shown in the seminal Rêve 31 from 2011.
The downcast figure assumes a sculptural quality with her stone-like skin haunting in its exposure. She bows her head and a motherly tenderness radiates in her arms covering her chest and her curled fingers. She is lightly dressed in black. Her contorted body is limited to the frame and seems to float in the black and white square-patterned background emphasising the allusion to the surreal and the enigmatic. This choice of homogeneous and cold surroundings underlines the feeling of solitude of this female figure in a foetal position. Echoing her position, the viewer notices that the woman is pregnant. And taking a closer look, one ironically notices her own reflection as she is pregnant with a representation of herself as a foetus, as if it is her and her only that has the ability to be reborn. The exquisiteness of this painting lies in the countless questions that arise as to the meaning of this self-alienation.
The present work is of major importance as it was painted exactly the year of the start of the Syrian Civil War when Dahoul’s country was under dramatic tension and when simultaneously, with his heart shattered, that same year, Dahoul moved to settle in Dubai. Following the sad passing of his wife Nawal three years prior, the intensity of his feelings is masterfully translated into his sombre painting.
Apart from an inner self-inspiration, the lines, contours and the way the body parts of the figure seem deconstructed suggest Dahoul’s exposure to Cubism whilst simultaneously reminiscent of byzantine iconography. It is no doubt that the influences of Assyrian and Flemish art remain deep rooted within his works.
Although a sense of sorrow and death resonates in his fantasy dream-like world, this underlying oppressive state is countered with a sign of hope that the artist subtly inserts. The glow of hope in Rêve 31 is reflected in the pregnancy and expectation of rebirth. The state of his subconscious flows on his canvases whether on a human level or a nation level creating a fascinating play on perceptions, in the same way one can find a myriad of interpretation for one single dream.
Celebrated as a prominent member of the Damascus art scene with his unequalled series Dream of the past thirty years, Dahoul has marvellously been an icon for bridging modern and contemporary Arab art with his timeless aesthetic and the consistency of his technique.