Bassem Dahdouh

Syria (b.1964)

Bassem Dahdouh was born in Damascus, and continued to live and work in Damascus, Syria.

He studied in Adham Ismail Art Centre, and graduated from the Department of Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University;

in 1986. He got his PhD from Hilwan University in Egypt in 1999.

Currently, he is the dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, International Arab University in Syria. He won two awards, and held solo exhibitions in Damascus, Beirut, Alexandria, Tunis, and Kuwait. He also participated in group events in Damascus, Aleppo, Istanbul, Tehran, Canada, Bulgaria, Geneva, and Cairo. At first, Dahdouh followed the traditions of realism in depicting his subjects, but in his more recent work, he shifted focus towards composition. Most of his work is depictions of portraits and the human body. Dahdouh’s work before the Syrian war was influenced by Cubism in a fresh and inventive contemporary approach. The subject of his work and style was developed during the Syrian war in which he expressed his vision through the influence of post-World War II German expressionism. His recent work is focused on distorted figures which signify a shift in the style. He focuses on the subject and the composition by using an earth color palette to portray a lost and confused generation of the Syrian society through the depiction of portraits and figures significantly distorted to express the horror which has befallen upon his world by the war.