On March 9, 2010, Ayyam gallery Dubai will proudly present a solo show in memoriam for the late Syrian painter Moustafa Fathi (1942-2009). Featuring two decades of Fathi’s work and accompanied by a recently published monograph on the artist, the exhibition will underscore the importance of one of Syria’s most influential contemporary pioneers.
Deriving inspiration from artisan printing materials after years of intensive research, Fathi carved hundreds of woodblocks, which he then used in the creation of elaborate mixed media canvases that reflect the freedom of Abstract Expressionism and the sophistication of Islamic art and ancient hieroglyphs. The result was a large body of work that sets small cells of complex designs against flat color planes, using symbolist and colorist explorations to produce an innate tension within the composition. Yet with careful arrangement, these works provoke the mind's eye with a visual harmony that reduces nature to its most organic state, as pockets of dynamic force are contained by an infinite vastness.
