Omran Younes Solo Exhibition
At Ayyam Gallery Beirut
4 February - 25 March, 2010Press Release
From February 4 to March 25, Ayyam Gallery Beirut will proudly present the solo exhibition of Omran Younes. Featuring a new body of the artist's work, the show will highlight the continual progression of one of Syria's most exciting painters.
As a member of a generation of artists that emerged from the influential school of Syrian modernism, Younes has sought to further contemporary aesthetics while building on the practices of his predecessors. This has often meant the capturing of the world around him with bold social commentary and an acute sense of observation through new varieties of painting. He frequently works within a specific theme, with each series dedicated to particular experiments in subject matter and technique.
His current series stands as a new (and distinct) chapter of his oeuvre, as the paintings display a fresh palette, different subject matter and a more intimate investigation of human relationships. For the artist, "Each series has its own set of colors. And each subject obliges one to employ various hues…This collection of paintings is based on photo portraits that were taken before the use of color technology, it indicates a sense of loneliness and nostalgia—a longing for memories, to moments of the past."
Oversized portraits with exaggerated figures characterize Younes' resurrecting of this past. A minimal palette of white, black, grey, brown and pink tones gives a pensive mood to his subjects. Their large heads dominate canvases, and although there is a monumental feel to the works, the viewer is drawn into the composition through the subtle ways in which Younes applies layers of various mediums, creating dimension with washes of color and scumbled paint. This intensive method of depicting their forms provides a near sculpted look to his male and female subjects, emphasizing the impact of their memories on the artist, and giving way to the ways in which the mind reconfigures what is lost or distant.
Born in Al-Hasakah in 1971, Younes has been active in the local art scene since the late 1990s. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus in 1998 and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Fine Arts in 2000. Having exhibited throughout the Middle East, his work has received critical acclaim at home and abroad. Most recently he has exhibited at Ayyam's Dubai and Damascus locations and in Doha at the Virginia Common Wealth University gallery among the ranks of such prominent Arab artists as Dia Azzawi, Mona Hatoum and Youssef Nabil. Today his work is collected as a staple of contemporary Syrian art, recognized for his commanding approach to depicting his subjects—one marked by labored explorations and careful execution—and a noticeable pursuit of elevating his art to its highest form.
Selected Works
OY54 Omran YOUNES 'Untitled' 180 X 250 cm. Mixed Media on Canvas 2009
OY47 Omran YOUNES 'Untitled' 195 X 164 cm. Mixed Media on Canvas 2009
OY57 Omran YOUNES 'Untitled' 150 X 170 cm. Mixed Media on Canvas 2009
OY63 Omran YOUNES 'Untitled' 170 X 190 cm. Mixed Media on Canvas 2009
OY46 Omran YOUNES 'Untitled' 195 X 164 cm. Mixed Media on Canvas 2009