Ayyam Gallery, Dubai, is hosting a large-scale survey of late Syrian artist Moustafa Fathi’s work. The exhibition, titled “Towards the Absolute of Nature”, is the first retrospective of the pioneering artist since his death in 2009, and has been organised under the gallery’s custodianship of his estate.
The show features a diverse selection of paintings and works on paper that highlight Fathi’s unique approach to abstraction and his deep interest in folk art. With a special focus on his mid-career paintings, the show outlines the ways in which the artist reinvented non-objective art by turning to the Levant’s cultural heritage and drawing on the aesthetic complexity of its visual culture.
Also on display are archival materials such as the artist’s tools, a series of woodblocks hand-carved by the artist, photographs of the artist in his studio, and a video essay shot by artist Ammar Al Beik in Fathi’s studio in 2008.
