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Lot Essay
Having been revolving around the subject of dreams for nearly twenty years, Safwan Dahoul’s work is the epitome of dream state. This lot, entitled Rêve, explores the uniqueness of each dream and emotional state of each individual. This monumental diptych, created in 2007, allows the viewer to immerse themselves into the intimacy of limbo. The pieces, one depicting a male and the other a female, are fully frontal, geometric yet humane. In them, he emphasises the pureness of outline and form, submerging his characters in a two tone colour palette, which in turn resonates both the discord and the harmony between masculine and feminine. Exploring the repetitiveness of dreams, he discovered that daily life can also become repetitive and banal.
Dahoul's inclination towards Cubism gives his work a characteristic perception that creates a distinguishing extent and depth. Anonymous faces often appear as his main subject and, seeking to express the inner essence of the human being through a sense of measured conventionality, Dahoul uses a condensed palette of subdued colours. Through these muted colours, the face becomes a mask and emptiness, which has its own philosophy, becomes one of the most important elements in his painting. Using one colour and its gradations, Dahoul is relating back to the creation of Earth when there was only soil and sky. This explains his inclination towards earthy tones in his later paintings. Claiming that he has become colour blind, for him to paint with fresh hues, he needs to see these colours around in nature, but in his home city of Damascus he no longer sees them.
Using the prescribed assets of painting to recreate the subliminal sense of attachment that surfaces during times of catastrophe, whether in the event of grief, rupture, or dogmatic struggle, this series travels through the palpable sense of estrangement, isolation, and desire that cultivate the human experience at different stages in life. Dahoul wants the works to speak to each viewer individually, allowing each one to interpret what they’re seeing according to their own experiences. Time and space are endless, persistent through each painting and each composition; there is a visible sense of melancholy. Beginning as a subtle narrative and reflection of time, the series has since grown to signify the emotivism of Dahoul’s dream state.
Dahoul's inclination towards Cubism gives his work a characteristic perception that creates a distinguishing extent and depth. Anonymous faces often appear as his main subject and, seeking to express the inner essence of the human being through a sense of measured conventionality, Dahoul uses a condensed palette of subdued colours. Through these muted colours, the face becomes a mask and emptiness, which has its own philosophy, becomes one of the most important elements in his painting. Using one colour and its gradations, Dahoul is relating back to the creation of Earth when there was only soil and sky. This explains his inclination towards earthy tones in his later paintings. Claiming that he has become colour blind, for him to paint with fresh hues, he needs to see these colours around in nature, but in his home city of Damascus he no longer sees them.
Using the prescribed assets of painting to recreate the subliminal sense of attachment that surfaces during times of catastrophe, whether in the event of grief, rupture, or dogmatic struggle, this series travels through the palpable sense of estrangement, isolation, and desire that cultivate the human experience at different stages in life. Dahoul wants the works to speak to each viewer individually, allowing each one to interpret what they’re seeing according to their own experiences. Time and space are endless, persistent through each painting and each composition; there is a visible sense of melancholy. Beginning as a subtle narrative and reflection of time, the series has since grown to signify the emotivism of Dahoul’s dream state.