Walid El Masri

Walid El Masri was born in Syria in 1979. Prior to receiving his BA from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus in 2005, he studied mosaic-making. El Masri was selected to take part in the Darat Al-Funun in Amman, Jordan, during which he studied with expressionist Syria painter Marwan Kasab Bashi.  His paintings of abstracted domestic objects, such as chairs, turn the familiar and comfortable into an object of uncertainty and discomfort, through animated brushstrokes and his acerbic color palette.   El Masri’s preoccupation with a singular object invites a reflection on the possibility of transformation and subjectivity.  His more recent body of work is preoccupied with Syria’s current political shifts the transformative effects of conflict on a nation and its people, which is symbolized through his paintings that chart the life cycle of a butterfly cocoon. El Masri has held numerous solo exhibitions, including Ayyam Gallery London (2014); Europia Gallery Paris, France (2014); Ayyam Gallery Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (2013); Ayyam Gallery DIFC, Dubai, UAE (2012); Art Beijing Contemporary Art Fair, China (2009); Art Hong Kong Art Fair, China (2009) and Ayyam Gallery Damascus, Syria (2008).