Influenced by his memories of Syria, Abdul Kader Azzouz paints silhouetted figures and landscapes using gestural lines and expressive forms. Throughout his career, he has painted with nostalgia and intimacy. Recalling his early days as an artist, he says: “We used to go to distant regions while we were on bicycles looking for places that we deemed suitable for drawing.”
Born in Homs, Abdul Kader Azzouz (1947) graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University in 1971. Since his graduation, he says that he has continued to explore the duality of life through a depiction of opposites, exploring the correlation between negative and positive, men and women, hot and cold, etc. Azzouz’s works evoke the sweetness and intimacy of home, nature and relationships. Painting in earthy tones or sometimes expressionist colours, his figurative works present groups of people standing close together, narrative vignettes or couples embracing. He also paints busy geometric cityscapes, and, less frequently, quiet and serene rural landscapes – always employing his recognizable style.
Azzouz has exhibited throughout Syria as well as in Sweden, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan and the UAE. His works have been acquired by The National Museum of Damascus, The Syrian Ministry of Culture, The Republican Palace in Syria, The Jordanian Ministry of Culture as well as private collections in the Arab world and Europe.