Safwan Dahoul: The Eye: An Aperture Into the Soul

But what, then, would become of this room were the paradox that once sustained its balance—and with it the illusion of its freedom—to no longer hold, and thereby collapse? This question comes to occupy the centre of Dahoul’s new body of work, not merely as an abstract proposition, but rather as a spatial condition through which the image itself is organised. Here, Dahoul formalises this condition by compressing this once-open room into an enclosed, box-like chamber, where any sense of openness once present within it is now entirely withdrawn, thereby confronting its figures with the immediacy of their newfound condition—a space defined by absolute boundaries, within which any illusion of freedom is entirely eliminated. As a result of this compression, what was once a room containing several figures within it has now been transformed into a spatially contracted, box-like interior, where a single figure—now isolated and folded inward upon itself—is physically confined to a space that seems at once both protective and oppressive.

From within its newly enclosed spatial condition, the figure’s confinement no longer permits it to fully open itself outwards into the world as it was once able to. Nevertheless, its capacity to outwardly express its interiority persists, but remains unfulfilled, thereby rendering the eye, once disclosed, as the sole gateway through which its interiority can come into view—as something that is held in suspension and yet left undiminished, and as something that is enclosed within itself without being entirely severed from the conditions of its own inward disclosure. As it emerges under the limits of its suspension, the figure’s interiority can only become momentarily legible. This legibility, sustained within the eye, is animated by an intense charge that continues to gather itself within the limits of its enclosure, briefly disclosing itself without ever fully stabilising, leaving it neither nullified nor fully sustained, as it remains suspended at the threshold of its own appearance. Such that, in certain instances, its interiority appears luminous and vitalised, its intensity turned inward, yet not entirely closed off within itself as it remains open to its own disclosure. This luminosity does not resolve its suspended internal state, but rather holds it under a sustained and visible pressure, where the figure remains responsive despite its spatial limitations. But as this luminosity fades, it gives way to a still and darkened opacity, not one brought about through violent shock or rupture, but rather one that is brought about by a quiet exhaustion, as its charge is gradually worn down to a point where it is no longer reactive, leaving it reduced and flattened into the exhausted condition in which it is now held.

As this state of waiting endures and deepens, and the prospect of the figure’s return to itself becomes increasingly improbable; what, then, remains once this uncertainty is no longer concerned with the question of that return, but rather with what remains of its interiority, once its return is deemed no longer possible? What remains is not a self in the process of becoming, but one that is neither able to project itself outwards nor resolve itself inwards, leaving it in an indefinite state of suspension, entirely contained within its own persistence. From within this persistence, the self, now diminished to scarcely more than its own existence, remains only in itself, reduced to nothing more than an indefinite state of waiting bounded only by the limits of its own finitude.

– William Kaprielian, 2026

Born in 1961 in Hama, Syria, Dahoul was initially trained by leading modernists at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus before travelling to Belgium, where he earned a doctorate from the Higher Institute of Plastic Arts in Mons. Upon returning to Syria, he began teaching at the Faculty of Fine Arts and was a prominent member of the Damascus art scene. In the span of a decade, Dahoul nurtured a new generation of artists as an active mentor whose evolving aesthetic often ignited new directions in painting. Given the trajectory and status of his painting style, Dahoul’s career is regarded as a crucial link between modern and contemporary Arab art.

Dahoul’s paintings are held in numerous private and public collections, including the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; National Museum, Damascus; The Samawi Collection, Dubai; The Farjam Collection, Dubai; the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Kuwait. Recently, he has participated in solo and group exhibitions at Ayyam Gallery DIFC and 11 Alserkal Avenue, Dubai (2018, 2017, 2016); Samsung Blue Square and Busan Museum of Art, South Korea (2014); Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai (2014, 2011); Ayyam Gallery Beirut (2014); Ayyam Gallery London (2013); Edge of Arabia, London (2013); and Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2012).