Ziad Dalloul: Shimmer of Memory

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery is thrilled to represent the works of French-Syrian artist Ziad Dalloul (b.1953) in Asia on an exclusive basis, featuring his debut solo exhibition Shimmer of Memory in Hong Kong in May.

As one of the Associated Projects of the French May Arts Festival, Shimmer of Memory will showcase 20 oil paintings and works on paper from 2012 to 2023.

Ziad Dalloul’s work invites viewers to explore a world where the visible and the imagined converge. Dalloul’s masterful use of visual and sensory abundance probes the boundaries between the natural and metaphysical worlds. In his paintings, static objects, lived spaces, and ever-shifting landscapes intertwine, dispersing shimmering memories and igniting questions of humanity’s bond with nature.

Born in Syria in 1953 and based in Paris since 1984, Ziad Dalloul started his artistic journey with engravings and paintings using traditional materials such as black and sepia ink, oil, canvas, and handmade paper. Skilled in painting, etching and artists’ books, Dalloul is considered to be among the most accomplished artists from the Arab world.

Over two decades, Dalloul’s work has focused on the intricate connection between humans and nature. His work fuses interior and exterior spaces, crafting a parallel world where contradictions, intuition, and reimagined memory are integrated. Dalloul’s large triptychs, almost life-sized, invite viewers into an immersive encounter, as in The Last Supper II (2018), life abounds in fluid strokes and chiaroscuro rendered in vibrant hues of red, violet, and green on a table of feast amidst the untamed forest.

In his paintings, though human figures are absent, their essence pervades through everyday objects—beds, chairs, tables, and curtains—signifying birth and death, wisdom and the sacred, shared spaces and celebration, and the passage between realms. Water acts as a bridge among the elements, bestowing a sense of stability and movement. Fluidity whispers the ephemeral nature of time, each brushstroke tenderly cradling the transient, with beds, tables, and curtains transforming into cascades, rivers, and cataracts, branches bend like flowing water, bursting with sensory abundance. In Dalloul’s words, ‘Through image and imagination, with visual vocabularies, drawing and painting, I traverse the paths towards the physical paths of the visible and towards the metaphysical boundaries of the invisible.’ The exhibition Shimmer of Memory offers a visual eloquence of Ziad Dalloul’s artistic vision, inviting viewers to explore the depths of human connection with nature and confront life’s fleeting beauty in this ever-evolving dynamic.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Ziad Dalloul was born in Syria in 1953 and based in Paris since 1984. In 1972 Dalloul moved to Damascus to study at the School of Fine Arts. There he became familiar with the art of engraving, and practised its techniques in tandem with painting. He graduated in 1977, and his first exhibition took place later that year at Galerie Urnina in Damascus.

Between 1980 and 1984 Dalloul resided in Algeria, where he was responsible for developing the plastic arts program for Algerian schools. The stay in Algeria allowed Dalloul to travel frequently to Spain and France, where he visited their museums. Paris especially attracted him, and he relocated there in 1984. He obtained a degree from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in 1987.

Skilled in painting, etching and artists’ books, Ziad Dalloul is considered to be among the most accomplished artists from the Arab world. His work has been published in collaboration with the renowned Syrian poet Adonis. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Paris, Italy, Belgium, Damascus, Jordan, Abu Dhabi, and Egypt. His works are included in prominent public collections, including the British Museum, London; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman and Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah.