Shimmer of Memory — Solo Exhibition of Ziad Dalloul

20 May - 29 Jul 2023
  • The Last Supper II, 2018, oil on canvas, 195x390cm
  •  Shimmer of Memory — Solo Exhibition of Ziad Dalloul

     

    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.

     

    Installation view, Shimmer of Memory - Solo Exhibition of Ziad Dalloul, May 20 - Jul 29 2023 © Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery 2023

  • I ask my existential questions on nature in my language as an artist. Questions drawn with colors and written with light and shade, image and imagination

    — Ziad Dalloul

     
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • III The palm of color extracts the thing of its darkness And cleanses it with the dew of dawn
    Tablescape - Pink Tablecloth
    2020
    Oil on canvas
    130 x 162 cm

    III
    The palm of color extracts the thing of its darkness
    And cleanses it with the dew of dawn

  • VIII The thing, in form and in color Is both water and mirage
    Nocturne of a Water Source
    2017
    oil on canvas 
    195 x 130 cm

    VIII
    The thing, in form and in color
    Is both water and mirage

  • X Things cross-fertilize, they procreate, they exchange their traits The void has the form of the filled And the blood...
    Swampland
    2016
    oil on canvas
    97 x 130 cm

    X
    Things cross-fertilize, they procreate, they exchange their traits
    The void has the form of the filled
    And the blood of place rushes in the veins of time
    Silence is another voice

  • XVIII It is the ink of childhood The world is a ghost that moves from a fold to another In...
    Morning Light
    2021
    Oil on canvas
    130 x 97 cm

    XVIII
    It is the ink of childhood
    The world is a ghost that moves from a fold to another
    In the tissue of colors
    The house is a space that cannot contain it,
    There is light that leaks through its windows and doors
    To participate in the festivities of memory

     

    — Excerpt from Darkness is itself the lanterns - Homage to Ziad Dalloul by Adonis

  • 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 Ziad Dalloul was born in Syria in 1953 and based in Paris since 1984. In 1972 Dalloul...
    About the artist
     
    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.