Depicting scenes from the countryside, Ahmad Draq Sibai’s landscapes, houses and figures have a geometric and angular quality. Groups of people or couples are painted as one form, in union, expressing a tight intimacy. Occasionally, he paints symbols on the figures themselves, pictorially referencing ideas of home, peace and unity. Poetic in subject matter, the paintings are created in organic and brown tones with simplistic minimal backgrounds.
Born in Homs, Ahmad Draq Sibai (1935–1987) was a self-taught artist. Later, he studied under the well-recognised Subhi Shuaib and became an instructor at his centre of fine arts. On a momentous trip to France in the 1960s, Sibai was so inspired by European modernist painters that he began to depict the human body in an abstract manner.
A special figure in the Syrian art scene, Sibai was honoured for both his work and the impact he had on other artists. After his death, he was included in the Larousse Encyclopaedia of Modern Art as one of Syria’s most prominent artists. His works have been included in many exhibitions in Syria and Lebanon and have been acquired by the Syrian Ministry of Culture, The National Museum in Damascus, the Dummar Museum, and private collections.