'Beings' by Houssam Ballan
Opening reception: Monday, 30 April from 7- 10 pm
Location: Fann A Porter, The Workshop
Villa 45, Street 23B Off Al Wasl Road, Jumeirah 2, Dubai, UAE
Figurative painter Houssam Ballan’s canvases are informed by his accomplished technical abilities and through his extensive academic and research endeavour. As an artist, Ballan’s frequent experimentation informs the growth in his work as he works intuitively
At the centre of his work is the idea that representation cannot solely be based on what one sees, but the understanding of what one is seeing and the feelings it invokes in a person - be it through looking at it from different angles, touching it, allowing it to move you subconsciously, as well as other experiential interactions. Drawing upon the idea that when one tries to remember a person or a specific incident, that person or incident is not remembered in concrete shapes and lines and colours, but blurred into an overall multi- dimensional feeling, the artist minimalises the detail in his work.
Ballan depicts everyday life without representing specific objects, rather aiming to emotise interactions and expressions through the use of colour. Ballan’s paintings narrate a sense of movement that is continuously juxtaposed against the silence of the two-dimensional canvas. Rather than each painting being a snapshot of a specific moment, the paintings carry an ongoing dimension, allowing the viewer move through this created dimension of space despite being still standing in front of the work.
Ballan is a tutor and member of the Teacher’s Association at the University of Damascus since 2009. Between 1999 and 2007, he participated in workshops with artist J. Bradley Adams and painter Jose Friexanes, and trained in mural painting with Pierre Palas. Ballan has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at Mark Hachem Gallery (2014); Arab Cultural Centre (2010, 2007, and 2005); Ayyam Gallery (2006); French Cultural Centre Damascus (2004); among others. His works can be found in numerous private and public collections. Ballan was born in 1983 in Sweida where he currently lives and works.
The exhibition will be on view till 30 May 2018.
