Headbones Gallery is pleased to announce the
opening of Syrian Contemporary Artists:
Behind the Lines with a public opening
reception on Friday, March 13, from 6- 8 PM.
This
exhibition of paintings and sculpture first came
to Canada
in 2016 after Paul Crawford, curator of the
Penticton
Art Gallery,
and Humam Alsalim, Director of the Cyrrus
Gallery in Damascus, opened a conversation on-line. From
there, and over two years, the works were
spirited out of Syria and found their way to Canada. Some of
the artists still reside in
Syria
and other have found homes in
Europe. Humam Alsalim currently
lives and works in
Berlin,
Germany.
After the initial selection showed at the
Penticton Art Gallery in 2016, it travelled to
museums, galleries, schools and churches in
Vancouver, Victoria, Duncan, Salt Spring Island,
Mill Bay, Nanaimo and Grand Forks. It has shown
at the Military
Museum in Calgary
and at the Yukon
Arts
Center in Dawson Creek as well as in the great hall of
The Reach Gallery in Abbotsford where a full
color catalogue was produced including Arabic
translations of the text.
While the situation in Syria still
remains crucial and precarious, Syrian
Contemporary Artists: Behind the Lines
reveals the undercurrents of a culture that has
sadly experienced violence and dislocation. The
imagery reflects this with grand-scale abstract
and expressionistic paintings and small, solid,
figurative sculptures. The works, often eerily
beautiful, reflect the sublime allocation of
will over circumstance. This exhibition speaks
of strength and endurance in concert with
remarkable empathy. The insistence of an
authentic visual voice commenting on
upheaval has historically spoken out in many
iterations. Syrian Contemporary Artists:
Behind the Lines is a
current expression of life experiences that we
have been spared in this peaceful valley. We
invite you to celebrate these artists at an
opening reception on Friday, March 13 (no
friggatriskaidekaphobia or
paraskevidekatriaphobia at Headbones…) as spring
settles in.
The artists exhibiting are
Juhayda
Albitar, Ali Almeer, Humam Alsalim, Mahmoud Al
Daoud, Fadi Al-Hamwi, Aya Al Medani, Khaled
Dawna, Lina Malki, Maiesam Mallisho, Alaa
Sharabi, Reem Tarraf, Omran Younis, Mohammad
Zaza and Obaidah Zorik |