Pain is the mother of creativity in Syrian art

In spite of the cruelty of the war, the art of drawing  still exists in the streets of Damascus, precisely in several shops in Al-Qaymariya neighborhood, which extends from the alleys of Bab Touma to the well-known Al-Nofara café in the Old city of Damascus, where the Damascene plastic paintings attract you with their various colors that are mixed with glorious history.

The war has had a negative effect on art in Syria, but the art never  vanished – it simply transformed into other forms that reflect the steadfastness of Syrian people in facing the war on the country.

The shops, which were selling their works to foreign and Arab tourists are today selling their works to Syrians, especially those who are traveling abroad.

The owner of one of the shops in Al-Qishleh Street in Bab Touma told Syria Times: “During the war, most of the Syrian citizens, who travelled to Germany, Canada, or a European country, bought from our shops paintings showing the Damascene lanes, Mawlawi dances, and ancient doors in Damascus, to remind them of the beauty of Damascus.”

Contrary to expectations, the buying and selling of art paintings has not declined during the war. The storing of Damascene paintings increased with the aim of selling them later at double prices, not to mention the merchants who are still buying paintings for amounts that may reach more than one or two million Syrian pounds and then  taking them to Lebanon to sell them at tens of millions of Syrian pounds.

The artists who find a way to sell their works in Lebanon or the UAE are lucky, according to an owner of another shop , who also preferred to talk to us  anonymously.

“The “no-buy” movement in some shops pushed the owners to depend on drawing personal faces for which the demand has increased over the past years as Syrians present them as gifts on several occasions or send them to their relatives abroad… There were also demands for drawing the faces of martyrs and beloved ones who were lost during the war or terrorist attacks on the country,” he added, indicating that the price of paintings ranges from SYP. 30,000 to SYP. 100,000 according to their sizes.

The owner of the shop is disappointed because he has to work in a way that helps him get money to support his family and he can not sell the paintings that he loves to draw on historical figures such as Al-Zeer Salem.

“A large number of well-known painters have left the country .Others have held many exhibitions in Arab countries where Syrian paintings were sold at prices that amounted to more than $5,000. We, who are living in Syria, can not show our paintings in international exhibitions because of sanctions.”

The number of people who want to buy paintings drawn by well-known artists has greatly decreased, while the demand has increased for commercial paintings that are suitable for the furniture of a house or office or café …etc.

Such paintings are available in the shops that show works of talented artists or students from the Faculty of Fine Arts, and some of them are without a signature. However, those who wish to buy a painting by a specific artist, visit the large galleries in Damascus, which are now devoted to   specific artists, who are still living in Syria.

In a nutshell, the Syrian artists have managed to convey to the world through their works the story of their steadfastness in the face of terrorism, which included: pain, sadness, love and joy.

Reported by: Basma Qaddour