"Stealing Sadness by Majd Kurdieh
Art exhibition
Opening reception: Monday, 12th of March, 2018 at 7pm - 10pm
Location: Fann A Porter @ The Workshop
Villa 45, Street 23B Off Al Wasl Road, Jumeirah 2, Dubai - UAE

Stealing Sadness is the second solo exhibition of the artist Majd Kurdieh which will include the new collection of the Fasaeen & The Very Scary Butterfly Gang, completing the path of hope and stealing sadness everywhere.  

"The Fasaeen”: cartoonish characters that speak for Majd and might be speaking for many others... 
The current political situation in the Arab world has produced a new and different type of daily life and social patterns, different surroundings and atmospheres; a situation that is constantly and rapidly changing as we speak, therefore different types of expression and respond are being represented in a new type of literature and art. Majd Kurdieh’s work is an important example of the outcome. 

“Fasaeen” cartoonish like work is a combination of art and literature which is inspired and affected by 'Kalilah Wa Dimma' by 'Ibn Al-Muuqafa'A' and 'Animal Farm' by 'George Orwell' and also the old poets of the pre-Islamic period. He created the small characters that he calls 'Fasaeen', with their 'gang' which are the other animal characters. He makes them talk so that he would speak his mind and send out his thoughts and feelings to us through them. 

About his second exhibition #StealingSadness Majd told us: 
“I started writing when all my thoughts transformed into birds that flew away when they heard the voice of the photographer, 
So how can I describe for you the bird without putting him in a cage? and how can I tell you about his wings when I don’t know the secrets of flying?
It’s just that I took my box of colors, and sneaked behind the grown-ups to scribble on walls and doors and scream out the difference between objects and creatures.
The Very Scary Butterfly Gang, is weird just like its name, how can a butterfly be scary?
Have you ever tried to carry a butterfly? Weren’t you scared to break its wings with your giant fingers?

When the fragility of the butterfly scares you, you become indifferent to the roars of monsters, you will be busy defending the right of people to keep their humanity. 
This is not one of the fights of Don Quixote, this is a destructive silent war in spite of the fact that there are no swords and guns involved, sometimes it is a war between the man and himself, and sometimes it takes the form of paintings that say: “Do not forget your humanity.”
“Stealing Sadness “is the mission of this ever-smiling Gang, maybe it is a smile of happiness or anger or challenge, but it is for sure not a smile of indifference. Indifference is the poisonous combination that transforms us into monsters.
An adventure that has sadness as enormous as a whale, and a universe that washes its stars with a teardrop, and an elephant that was able to fly when he had inside him the heart of a butterfly, ... I don’t want to spoil for you the fun of attending the exhibition ... I wish you a good appetite and peace.”
Majd Kurdieh

Stealing “sadness” is very similar to generic stealing. Like the light-fingeredness of a skilled stealer, the light-spiritedness is what characterizes an effective stealer of “sadness”, where no one gets burdened by his/ her presence while he/ she swiftly enters through windows and stealthily passes from beneath closed doors. 
When you steal “sadness” you do not simply give joy, but rather, you water and nurture hearts for joy to grow out of them. For any joy that grows outside the heart, stays outside of it. 
When you steal the “sadness” of others you are not solely helping them. In fact, those whom you are helping are simultaneously implanting a feather onto your wing for you to fly higher, and to obtain a distant, holistic perspective, where you rise above all barriers that separate human beings from each other, and that separate any single human-being from his/ her respective dream. Since, as we all know, matters on planet Earth have been quite troublesome, and “sadness” is overflowing, and in turn, obstructing pathways, and covering seas and mountains, the members of the Scary Butterfly Gang are calling for volunteers: 
Light-spirited volunteers, who dream of a world of less harshness, and who are genuine and do not strive to look like anyone other than their true selves are needed to join the Scary Butterfly Gang and/ or for the Scary Butterfly Gang to join them.