In February 2024, to celebrate Dubai Art Week, the Urbanist Art Gallery launched an exhibition displaying works by four distinguished Syrian artists: Mustafa Ali, Rima Salamoun, Imad Habbab, and Norrem Hamdi. The show will welcome all visitors until 26 August 2024.
Mustafa Ali, Syria’s most prominent sculptor, is famous for elegant, monumental artworks. Made of different materials (from wood to bronze), they draw upon the rawness of the human figure, highlighting the fragility of mankind. In his art pieces, Ali explores emotions, psychological states, and past civilisations, creating whimsical figures, which seem otherworldly yet familiar, history-inspired busts, and abstracted ancient faces.
Rima Salamoun‘s poignant acrylic and mixed media works portray sorrowful distorted human figures consoling each other amidst a dark world. The artist often places female protagonists at the forefront and thus refers to Syrian art tradition that has historically employed the feminine form to represent the collective human experience. Maintaining the anonymity of her subjects, Salamoun creates universal narratives from which one can grasp the weight of global concerns.
Imad Habbab‘s art practice revolves around Constructive Metaphorism, a term coined by the artist himself. Since 2014, he has been focusing on the Civilian Spectrums concept about the deep connection between identity, the place, and the human traces. Drawing inspiration from the cities he lives in, such as Damascus, Beirut, and İstanbul, Habbab produces impressionist paintings in which he hides diverse symbolic elements, bordering on creating optical illusions.
Norrem Hamdi‘s large-scale paintings are created using Indian pigments and acrylic on canvas. Unconventional in his approach, while working on another piece, the artist prefers his hands and feet to traditional art tools. This attitude results in artworks brimming with raw energy and dynamism.
About the artists
Mustafa Ali (b. 1956, Lattakia) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University in 1979 and pursued his education at the Fine Arts Academy in Carrara (Italy), graduating in 1996.
Since 1979, the artist has participated in many exhibitions and art shows, such as the International Symposium for Sculptors (Valencia, Spain, 2001); Latakia Sculpture Biennial (1997), where he won the Golden Prize; and the Biennial of Alexandria (Egypt, 1994), to mention a few. The artist’s creations are part of various private and public collections: the National Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Damascus), the Jordan National Gallery (Amman), and Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris, France). Ali’s achievements also include establishing the Mustafa Ali Art Gallery & Foundation in Damascus and the Al Makan Art Association.
Rima Salamoun (b. 1963, Damascus) studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus and graduated from the Department of Interior Architecture in 1987. She is a member of the Syrian Plastic Artists Union.
Salamoun has displayed her works in multiple solo and collective exhibitions, such as Woman Through the Eyes (Tajalliyat Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon, 2015); Paris-Damascus, Collective Vision (Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France, 2008); a group show at As-Sayyed Art Gallery (Damascus, 2003); and Biennale of al-Mahabeh Festival (Lattakia, 2003). In 2010, the artist took part in Syrian Fine Art Painters, a group show held at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut.
Imad Habbab (born in Damascus) studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus, from which he graduated in 2011. In 2012, Habbab had to leave Syria and moved to Beirut (Lebanon). In 2015, the artist decided to move to Istanbul (Turkey). Habbab has taken part in a lot of exhibitions and performances in the Middle East, Europe, and the USA.
Norrem Hamdi (b. 1964, Hassaka) has been living and working in Berlin (Germany) since 2015. Initially studying law, at one point, he decided to dedicate his life to his true passion: art. Hamdi is a member of the Association of Professional Artists in Berlin (BBK) and the Künstlerhof Frohnau art studio.
Norrem’s art pieces have been exhibited in prestigious venues across the globe. He has headed solo exhibitions at the National Museum Damascus, Goethe Institute Damascus, Museum of Modern Art Lattakia, and Khan As’ad Pasha Damascus. The artist has also participated in collective shows held at renowned institutions such as the World Bank (Washington, USA), the Contemporary Art Platform (Kuwait), and the Kaleemat Sanat Galeri (Istanbul, Turkey). Besides, Norrem has been featured twice in the Venice Biennale.
To learn more about the exhibition, please visit the official website of the Urbanist Art Gallery.
You might also be interested in attending Laal Collection Volume II at Total Arts.