Oussama Diab: What Happened Here

Ayyam Gallery Beirut is pleased to present What Happened Here, the solo show of Palestinian-Syrian artist Oussama Diab. Alongside the artist’s latest paintings, the exhibition features selected drawings, mixed-media collages, and preparatory sketches that demonstrate how his new series has progressed with recurring symbols and a cohesive narrative. In recent years Diab has developed a neo-cubist painting style as part of a broader theoretical project that explores the aesthetic potential and relevance of historical precedents. With a postmodern approach, Diab depicts the increasingly fragmentary state of global society as political conflicts tear apart communities, and forced migration and displacement burden the everyday. 

Domestic scenes and individual portraits chronicle ordinary life against the backdrop of catastrophic events with the interactions of a couple as the focus of the series. Although his characters are depicted with elegant ornamental patterns that allude to dimension and motion, Diab’s paintings possess a palpable melancholy, as the intimacy of love is now tainted by the shadows of war.