Artist and scholar Nour Asalia examines how Paris became first an educational and later a political haven for artists from Syria, beginning with the first generation of artists to study there in the late 19th and early 20th century. She touches upon major movements and notable artists to have continued the trend through the 20th century, ending on the younger generation of Contemporary artists who have settled in Paris after the events of the Arab Spring as well as notable institutions and their role in the arts.

Walid El-Masri quickly became synonymous with the dramatic paintings of chairs that formed his expansive Seat of Perception series. In them, the central object– a chair – would often appear as if floating through the top of the canvas, its top cropped out as if already in the process of ascending out of the frame, yet the object as a whole dripping down the canvas in visceral daubs, at once rising above and sinking, an object in a strange state of stasis. These chairs, like other images found in his works – peacocks, cocoons – have become objects through which El-Masri parses through a thought process or event, the repetition and re-visiting of the image creating a leitmotif that serves to act as a visual and thematic crescendo, a philosophical inquiry that takes shape in a swelling and gaining of momentum. Born in Syria with Lebanese heritage, El-Masri relocated to France in 2011, where he has been based ever since.

Nour Asalia sits down with Syrian artist Monif Ajaj (b. 1968, Deir Ezzour), who has been living and working in France since 2012. Here, he shares his story and talks about his artistic career, recounting all the difficulties, obstacles, opportunities, transformations and successes involved.

Khaled Takreti began exhibiting in the mid 90s, though it was in the mid 2000s that he burst onto the scene in a big way, with his Pop-inspired portraits. Based in Paris since 2006, the Beirut-born Syrian artist’s work has since encompassed monochromatic works as well as a shift from examining issues that are deeply personal and societal in a familial sense, to works that have been influenced by larger questions on conflict and war. In his most recent works, Takreti has returned his attention from the bigger picture of humanity to the very personal and human: the body itself, relishing the very act of life drawing and its ability to ground the artist in the present moment.

For installation artists, the interaction of the viewer with the work forms a critical part of the piece, without which it is often incomplete. How is a piece planned with the viewer in mind? What messages need to be imparted, and what experiences will the viewer have? How will they navigate their body through the space? We speak to scenographer and installation-artist Bissane Al Charif and Dino Ahmad Ali, who specialises in optical illusions, about some of the factors they take into account through conception to execution of an artwork.

Khaled Dawwa (b.1985) first received widespread attention for his ‘Clay and Knife’ project (2011), in which golem-like men, signature figures for Dawwa, are arranged in a variety of tableaux. At times, they appear malevolent and oppressive, at others, full of pathos in their desperate outcry against injustice. For the artist, they embody social and political transformations, as well as an ongoing interest in mass and dimension. His interest in sculpture stems from his childhood, and he continues to use raw clay to explore the human condition. Here Dawwa tells us about the characters that have accompanied him on his travels from Syria to France.

This issue’s Spotlight focuses on Alaa Abou Shahin (b. 1985), a sculptor who predominantly works with metal and paper, his figures ranging from moustachioed faces to animals such as donkeys and chickens. His paper technique, as evidenced in this Untitled piece from the Atassi Foundation collection, is created through a technique he refers to as paper recyclé, in which paper, often with his own text on it, is turned into a malleable paste.

Using found objects and collective memory to create imaginary archives and alternate histories, Bady Dalloul explores the space between fact and fiction, skating along the origin points from which random acts become purposeful, historical truths. His work is currently included in the group show The World is Burning at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, where he is based, and in Orientalism: The Construction of Images of the Near East and North Africa at the IVAM in Valencia, Spain. 

Nemat Atassi meets with the founders of two independent initiatives in Paris that work to bring Syrian art to French audiences and beyond – Caravane Culturelle Syrienne and Portes Ouvertes.

In this section artists Reem Yasouf, Walaa Dakkak, and Ola Abdallah write about selected works.