Syrian artist Thaier Helal works on large-scale paintings that evoke imagery of nature and memories of his homeland. Maie El-Hage speaks to the artist about abstraction and what he considers to be the value of artwork.
Artists turn to nonrepresentational art for many reasons. Such is the case of Syrian artist Thaier Helal who was attracted to abstract art during his formative years and has been working in a non-representational style ever since. Helal trained at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus where he studied works by Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and other important Abstract Expressionists who experimented with characteristic trends. These artists inspired him, as did local and regional artists, teachers and colleagues such as the Syrian artists Fateh el Mudaress, Mahmoud Hammad, Marwan Kassabbachi and Milad el Shayeb. “I found myself here,” says the artist of his move towards abstraction. Helal feels he could say more with less. For the artist, abstraction serves as a high standard of language, like poetry. Abstraction also offers a reduction and refinement of artistic language. “We can say many things without there being a surplus of words,” says the artist.
