Nostalgia in the drawings of Syrian Expatriate Saief Daoud of old Damascus

The conditions of expatriation have not prevented  Syrian artists and intellectuals  from creativity and success  rather they are a major incentive to present the best to express their  deep loyalty and  sincere feelings of nostalgia  to their motherland.

The color intertwined with poetic visions in  art works displayed  in” Tarnim” exhibition by the Syrian expatriate   artist Saif Daoud. This intertwining  gave  the  paintings a touch of sadness, alienation and suffering.

Artist Daoud told SANA  that the exhibition , hosted by Mustafa Ali Gallery in Old Damascus,  is a selection of 300 paintings that share one link, which is the suffering that he expressed through the brush and color, indicating that despite sadness and pain, hope remains.

Concerning the title  of the exhibition, Artist Daoud said  “Tarnim”  inspires  a song and a call to life and joy through the painting, pointing out that he worked on his art works in the technique of contrasting colors with Harmony to break the boundaries and separations between them, so the bright colors came to give the painting a color intensity.

As he is also a poet , according to the Syrian  expatriate,  his paintings embodied  the element of intertwining the arts, underscoring that  the painting  has no specific color, but rather has a relationship to the psychological state where there is interaction between him and the painting. He believes  that the message of art for artists in the expatriate is to convey thought and eastern civilization to the West.

On his part, Artist Mustafa Ali said  that Daoud’s experience is distinctive in which the expressive element predominates through the rough and soft space and through the stark colors that are surrounded by cold colors and have a relationship with alienation and nostalgia. Artist Mustafa indicated  that  Daoud’s inner world  appeared clearly to the attendees   where we can read his insides on the color palette.

In turn the artist  Mohamed Al-Rakou’i,  viewed  that the exhibition is a mixed-level experience, as the ideas are beautiful and show that the artist worked on them more than techniques and painting, adding  that Daoud depended on childishness in his work, which is a beautiful style. 

Rawaa Ghanam