Veteran and Young Artists Showcase their Artworks in an Exhibition at Dar al-Assad in Lattakia

Within its plan to revive cultural life in Syria, reactivate the role of culture in society and mobilize youths’ capacities, the “Mada” Cultural project in cooperation with Lattakia Culture Directorate recently held an art exhibition at Dar al-Assad for Culture in Lattakia showcasing artworks of 23 artists from several Syrian provinces.

The three- day event, titled “Spaces of Color”, exhibited 41 paintings and 10 sculptures by 23 artists( 19 painters and 4 sculptors). The art pieces depicted diverse personal, national and humanitarian issues, joy, sadness, hope and nature, besides the impacts of the crisis in Syria.

“What is remarkable about this event is that it brought together veteran artists and talented ambitious young artists, mainly new graduates of Fine Art Faculty, to create an opportunity for the youths to benefit from the expertise of prominent Syrian artists,” Mrs, Lama Al-Qayyem, Head of the “ Mada” project, told the Syriatimes e-newspaper.

 Al-Qayyem pointed out that diverse techniques such as acrylic, oil paints and pastel, in addition to wood and marble sculpting were used by the participants.

She said that art is a meaningful cultural message and  this exhibition, which  is Mada ‘s first activity in Lattakia for this year, aims at reviving the cultural movement in Syria, particularly because Syria is a country of deep- rooted civilization and culture.

Mada project carries out different activities including exhibitions, cinema shows,  poetry and music evenings , tourism tours and intellectual events in the Syrian provinces of Damascus, Homs, Lattakia and Swieda.

Artist Ismael Toutanji, on his part, highly appreciated the event, stressing the need to provide young artists a chance to showcase their works alongside prominent artists to enrich their knowledge and benefit from the experience of the elder generation.

About his participation, Toutanji said that his two paintings, which contained a mix of several colors, depicted the repercussions of the Syrian crisis, noting that the most apparent color used in the works was white as it presents light and hope.

Artist Mohammad Hadla, who is also a mathematics teacher and who was a soldier in the Syrian Arab army,  talked to the Syriatimes about his three paintings saying: “one of the them depicts a real story which happened with me while I was doing my national duty in defending homeland against takfiri terrorism in Damascus countryside.”

“I found  two, who had  tried  to escape  in a narrow path as many innocent people have been killed by terrorists groups.”

He added that the painting depicts a Syrian soldier who tries to take out the dead bodies of two children with their mother killed by terrorist groups. The aim is “to stress the fact the Syrian soldiers are knights and fighters, who defend their homeland and people, not killers.”

Artist Adnan Fadel, a retired brigadier general, said “art is  a message of hope. After retirement I insisted on developing my talent so I joined the Fine Arts Institute“.

He made it clear that his three paintings in the exhibition were characterized by artistic documentation to depict his old memories of Lattakia’s old rocky coast, souq Al-Hamediyeh and Qasyuon mountain in old Damascus in addition to his hometown “Ein Altineh” in Lattakia countryside.

Interviewed by : Rawaa Ghanam