“Art and Invention” honored at Damascus Citadel

Wonderful oil paintings of seventeen plastic artists belonging to different artistic schools decorated the walls of Damascus Citadel within the framework of the two-week  “Art and Invention” Forum, which was concluded yesterday.

The paintings, which resisted blackness by the using of bright colors, depicted life, beauty, love, history andthe homeland.

Artists Nazir Ismael, ShafeekIshti, Anwar al-Rahbi, Mohammad al-Wahibi, Abdalla Abu Asali, MowaffakMakhoul, Nabil al-Samman, George Miro, Sawsan al-Zou’bi, Ibrahimal-Hameed, FawazSalama, AhdRajjoub, Naser al-Sha’al, JumanaJabr, QahtanTalla’, HaskouHaskou and FouadDahdouh took part in the forum, which was held in cooperation between the Directorate of Fine Arts of the Culture Ministry and the Applied Arts Institute.

The Culture Ministry held a ceremony on Monday to honor the participants in the forum in a bid to support the artists and urge them to give their best.

LubanaMushaweh, the Minister of Culture, said during the ceremony that that the exhibited panels reflected the fact that the Syrian artists are deeply-rooted in their homeland and they feel pain and bitterness for the tragic events in Syria.

The minister promised that the artistic works will be exhibited at the Modern Art Museum,which the ministry plans to open soon to host plastic artists’ masterpieces.

According,ImadKashout, Director of the Fine Arts Directorate, the forum aimed at establishing dialogue and interaction between the artists and the people to enhance the artistic taste, particularly because the participants have distinguishedimprints at the Syrian and international artistic arenas.

He pointed out that the directorate intends to hold other activities dealing with different areas of art in a number of Syrian governorate in order to allow all creative persons to contribute to enhancing the plastic art movement so as to keep its brightness and to maintain the Syrian art as an eternal beacon to the world.

In a  statement on behalf of the participating artists, Nabil al-Sammanhighlighted the artists hope that Syria will surpass the current painful era.

“During the hard times, when Takfiris and narrow-minded people seek destruction, things will have different meanings and light becomes brighter,” al-Samman said, stressing that Syria’s future will be to those honest people who kept patient and tolerated pain, so as their homeland be safe.

Artists Anwar al-Rahbi hailed the Culture Ministry’s keenness to hold such important forums which brings together different artistic experiences within a harmonic work.

For his part, AhdRajjoub, whose one-color mural attracted many visitors, said he abandoned colors in his panel as it depicted the tragedy, which the Syrians are living and which victimized hope-loving people.

Other artists affirmed the importance of the forum in presenting the artists’ views on the current situation in the country,  in shedding light on the many sides of beauty and in highlighting the Syrian artists’ determination to challenge the difficult circumstances.

H. Mustafa