“My paintings are for me a kind of rebellious reaction to all the fights that is going on all around the world. They are also an inner monolog about my despair towards this. My paintings invites the viewer to a dialog about my memories, full of color and unrest from my war tormented home country, Syria.”
Adel Dauood
The artist Adel Dauood is born in 1980 in Al-Hasakah, Syria, where he resides until 2014 and then moves to Wienna, Austria, which is his home today. Yet Adel’s troubled past in Syria is still reflected in his dramatic paintings, which has obtained international recognition and is exhibited at among other things The British Museum and George Berges Gallery, New York. Adel is educated in Fine Arts from both Damaskus and Al-Hasakah. This becomes clear when looking at his superior technique.
The artist works mainly in two formats; oil and acrylic on canvas and ink or coal on paper – two immediately different expressions, which represents Adel’s broad range of talents. The oil/acrylic paintings are often in great formats with an abundance of vivid colors and impressions, while the paper drawings are smaller and appear with simpler motifs in muted colors. The stroke is the same but in two different styles.
Adels works are both abstract, surreal and entirely concrete; creatures, humans and fragments are hiding in the lines for the beholder to interpret. To Adel, the message in his works should not be clearly defined but something subjective, which occurs between the beholder and the art. The many colors and motifs, especially in the paintings, makes is possible to get lost in the art and experience it again and again. The characteristic, fragile strokes wake the paintings energy; layer upon layer of vibrating scenes supported by vivid, nuanced backgrounds.
Adel draws inspiration to his art from all over the world, but he possesses a drama and severity clearly referencing his life in the war tormented Syria. Each picture tells a story about turbulence and peace, life and death in a completely unique fashion: Adel Dauood’s art is exceptional, and Gallery V58 is proud to represent him.
Stud.mag. Nordic language and literature & Visual Culture, Anna Emilie Ravn
