Mouteea Murad
Biography
Born in Homs, Syria in 1977, Mouteea Murad is a young artist whose recent explorations into abstraction have set him apart within the contemporary Syrian art scene. A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts, his earlier works consisted of monotone portraits that spoke of human angst. Despite successful sales and exhibitions throughout the Arab world with such compositions, he abruptly changed his artistic direction shortly before entering the “Shabab Ayyam” competition in 2007. Murad now approaches his work with a deep spirituality, one that reconfigures abstraction with the principles of Islamic art in mind. Utilizing contemporary techniques, he explores the core facet of this tradition by creating compositions that suggest a divine presence in the world while also engaging international modernist movements such as the Russian Constructivists, Abstract Expressionism and Geometric Abstraction.
His current work is thus informed by the linear and horizontal division of spatial planes with geometric shapes emerge from elaborate partitions. Pulsating with vivid cubist forms, each line is vastly different from the next. The result is a geometric mosaic in which squares, triangles and circles intersect, overlap and collapse upon each other.
Having exhibited in solo and group shows across the globe, Murad’s paintings are housed in collections in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the US, notably in the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts.
Artist Press
The Optimistic Powers of Mouttea Murad's Colors, Forward Magazine May 2010Download PDF (643 K)
Mouttea MURAD "Wandering Inward", Timeout Magazine Dubai Augsut 2009
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Mouttea MURAD "Towards the Light", Canvas Magazine
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Artist Exhibitions
Mouteea Murad, Through The Looking Glass 2 May - 16 Jun, 2011View Exhibition
Mouteea Murad - For Your Eyes Only, Ayyam Gallery, Damascus 15 May - 19 Jun, 2010
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Shabab Uprising 19 Feb - 19 Apr, 2009
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Ayyam Summer Festival 2007 9 Jun - 13 Sep, 2007
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Artist Publications
Mouteea MuradView Publication
Selected Works
MM106 Mouteea MURAD 'Trial No.48 - The Spirit is Anxious to Heaven' 185 X 185 cm. Acrylic on Canvas 2011
MM112 Mouteea MURAD 'Trial No. 53' 185 X 185 cm. Acrylic on Canvas 2011
MM104 Mouteea MURAD 'Trial No.46 - Where the Wish Lies' 120 X 120 cm. Acrylic on Canvas 2011
MM110 Mouteea MURAD 'Trial No. 51' 185 X 185 cm. Acrylic on Canvas 2011