Silence is sometimes stronger than words”, says Syrian artist Khaled Takreti, whose solo exhibition ‘Silence’ is currently on display at Ayyam Gallery in DIFC, Dubai, until Nov. 29.
Communicating passively in a gray and sepia toned palette, ‘Silence’ in its own color-robbed quiet capacity, draws reference to the grim war situation in Takreti’s homeland, Syria.
Born in 1964 in Beirut, Takreti is a contemporary artist who worked with the General Directorate of Antiquity and Museums in Syria before he launched his career in arts. In 1995 he moved to New York, to undertake a wider approach in style and variety, and then finally settled in Paris in 2006, devoting his energy completely to painting.
His current collection is a detour from his usual style of candy-colored canvases, as his portraits bear a certain element of heart-breaking sorrow. Takreti’s female subjects hauntingly shoulder the responsibility of emoting a woman’s state in war, her personal issues, struggles, strengths and weaknesses, in a poignant and beautiful manner.
If Takreti’s mood defines the silent narration in his collection, then the canvas surely reveals his interior mirror as ‘Silence’ reflects the personal revelation of pain he has been experiencing during this period of turmoil in Syria. In Takreti’s words “this difficult period of war has infiltrated the colors in my work.”
In ‘The Shopping Day’, Takreti introduces a relieving interlude from the dismayed and dour heaviness of his lady-subjects, by reflecting on the equation between women and retail therapy.
”Something is missing. It is about the lack of affection. And the way to stop this feeling is by purchasing,” he says. Retail therapy is a luxurious therapy for ailments only women with loose purse strings can afford to indulge and anoint onto wounds that run deep. Can scars of war, desolation and loneliness be countered by superfluous sprees of wallet burning? These are questions that Takreti raises in stealth and quietude.
He goes on to reveal that the women who inspired him during the creative process, while painting the series, remain the people who are close to him. ”My mother, friends, relatives and others”, he says.
The symbolism of fish in ‘The Silver Fish’ and ‘Aïe’, infused the artist with a sense of strength and refuge, from the pain he experienced during the process of working on the collection.
Although the artist restrains from providing flowing interpretations of his work, Tarkreti reveals that his desire in this collection was to present a less romantic, and more contemporary view of external life, in which the composition of each canvas tells a story open in itself, open to understanding by self interpretations.
His paintings have been presented in solo and group exhibitions throughout the Middle East, Europe and USA, including premiering in international exhibitions like the Alexandrai Biennale, Art Paris, Art Hong Kong, and Art Dubai. Some of Takreti’s paintings are also part of a permanent collection displayed at the Syrian National Museum, Jordan’s National Gallery of Fine Arts and Mathaf, and the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha.
For more information on the artist and the exhibition, visit:
www.ayyamgallery.com
Khaled Takreti paints the silence in shades of gray
Khaled Takreti paints the silence in shades of gray
