Barbara Walters chats with Forward Syria
Swaying between art and seduction
Discussing monetary policy with the man in charge
Where the earth screams in horror
12/02/2010 - Issue 46
Abstraction vs realism in the so-called Syrian "culture wars"
by Lauren Williams
At 47, Khaled Samawi, a former banker and founder of Ayyam Gallery describes himself as a "cultural entrepreneur" above a curator. With the first million dollar auction under his belt and two new gallery spaces in Dubai and Cairo, no one can dispute that Ayyam is a business success story. So what's got noses out of joint in the Syrian arts world? On the eve of the opening of prominent sculptor Mustafa Ali's hard-hitting new exhibition "Guillotine" last month, Khaled Samawi sat down for a frank conversation with Forward Magazine about the future of art in the Middle East, setting the record straight on the many ways forward.
You've just opened two new spaces in Dubai and Cairo - are there any plans to open outside the Middle East?
That's the next logical step. I think in the Middle East we are pretty close to where the talent is and pretty close to where the collectors are between Dubai, Beirut, Damascus and Cairo, we have the Middle East covered.
The logical thing would be London. We thought hard about Hong Kong and decided it's not really a global centre yet. It's all about far east arts.
Who's buying Middle Eastern Arts? Is it mainly from the Gulf?
Actually the Gulf makes up only 20% of our business. Historically, Syrians would buy Syrian art, Egyptians would buy Egyptian art and Lebanese would buy Lebanese art, but that's changing. The collectors from the Gulf are buying Arabic art so I think it's better for us to think of Arab art.
Our four or five biggest collectors are Syrian expats living in the Gulf and Europe and two foreigners - westerners - who have supported us from the beginning.
The goal of Ayyam is to exhibit Middle Eastern artists and that will probably never change. I can't imagine exhibiting Western artists at Ayyam Gallery.
Do you restrict yourself to young and emerging artists?
Ayyam is a bet on the future, not the past.
I don't get a thrill out of buying a Kayyali or the Mudarres and then selling it and making a margin. That's not what Ayyam is about.
At the end of the day, I like to exhibit my generation. We have a niche - and that is nothing against older or dead artists - there are galleries that deal in older masterpieces or big names and there are collectors that collect those.
There is a misconception that if an artist is 80, the price of his art will go up because he's going to die soon. The price goes up if the work is good enough and if the artist was successful in his life.
What do you look for in a new artist?
Somebody who is not afraid to experiment, somebody who is not afraid to try new things, someone who is not stuck in the past and someone who is looking to the future.
We are looking for the right 10 to 15 to ride our vision with us - so there is trial and error - some come, some leave, some fail us, and maybe we have failed some artists.
Can you clarify the relationship you have with your artists? Do you have contracts?
There are no written contracts. Mainly because I don't know which legal system could implement them. I don't see myself taking an artist through the Syrian courts. There are moral and verbal contracts and that I will do the best I can to promote them and sell their works and they do the best art they can for Ayyam Gallery.
Do they have to produce a certain amount for Ayyam?
No, some artists are prolific and others are slow and you cannot tell them to speed up or slow down or you will ruin them. But at the end of the day, if you don't produce, you're going to get left behind.
What is easiest for us to manage is between 30-40 important works a year. Most full time artists do that easily.
Do you have any say over what they produce?
No, but I have say over what I exhibit. At the end of the day the artist is the king of his studio and I am the king of my walls.
Does that influence what they produce?
No, because at the end, if the artist is working with Ayyam it means we are on the same wave length so they understand what we like.
I am not going to find an artist that produces vulgar art and tell them to start painting landscapes. There is enough talent here and enough people doing work that I like, that I do not need to try to influence it.
Also, in the last five years, the market has become extremely intelligent Collectors are not going to pay 10, 20, 30 thousand dollars for a piece of art that was done purely to be sold or purely to their taste; they will just shun it.
We are not selling $200 paintings in the old souq. We are selling real art to real collectors and real collectors, if they don't like an exhibition they won't buy it and if they do, they'll buy it up - that's a message to the artist. How the artist interprets that message is their measure of intelligence.
In October, a Reuters article appeared accusing Ayyam of sparking a "culture war". Established artists, like former political prisoner and Ayyam artist, Youssef Abdelke, left the gallery, accusing Ayyam of inflating prices, selling substandard and apolitical work to an undiscerning Gulf market and treating art as a mere commodity. The war of word got ugly when a video work by Ayyam video artist Ammar al-Beik showed a newspaper article by Abdelke, accusing Samawi of peddling art, being burned. Here, Samawi responds.
The bad press? What's going on?
Syrian society today is divided into two clans - the people who are stuck in the 1970's and the people who are trying to move Syria forward. There are some people who, when they see that Ayyam was only created 4-5 years ago and has become one of the most important art institutions in the Middle East, and the art we exhibit and our philosophy doesn't fit with theirs - they fight it.
The fact that there is discussion- even bad publicity - then we are obviously doing something right.
How do you respond to claims that you artificially inflate prices?
To me the discussion is ridiculous.
It's not like I just call people and say "Here's some expensive art and they say 'wohoo, thank you' and hand over their money. Prices are ridiculously still low. It's just not a discussion.
People who say that are ignorant and don't know how the art market works. When we opened four years ago the average price for a large work was between US$5,000 and $13,000 and people said we were artificially raising prices. Now those works are selling between $50,000 and $150,000 and they are still saying we artificially inflate prices.
Top Iranian art is selling between $200,000 and $1 million. Top Egyptian masterpieces are selling between $500,000 and $2.5 million. International masters have reached records over one hundred million in the last few global auctions. Damien Hirst a young British artist sold over $200 million worth of art through Sotheby’s in one session.
Let's not assume that collectors are ignorant. If the prices are artificially inflated, they would not buy.
We are selling art to some of the most important collectors and these people are finding us ridiculously cheap.
Is art a commodity?
Business is not a bad word.
Art is a work in progress when it is at the artist’s studio. It becomes a commodity when it gets to the gallery and is being marketed and when it is sold to the collector it becomes a permanent work of art.
I am lucky enough to be dealing in a commodity that also adds social and cultural value to our society.
What sells?
The easiest things to sell are the masterpieces by the dead artists, but they are very rare and unfortunately there are a lot of forgeries running around because in the old days nobody cataloged.
Emerging artists are selling. The older school of Arab artists – mainly the people attacking the younger artists, are the ones that are not in vogue. I understand that. It's hard for them to sell their works. The older generation lack creativity, they are all about technique.
Do people buy safe works that they can hang in their homes. Is that where the criticism that you influence art comes from?
Abstract is safe art. Landscape is safe art. The young artists today are making graphic art that is pretty hard to sell. I mean 90% of the homes in the Middle East are very classic.
Let's talk about art in history; Michelangelo was asked to paint a ceiling. He was given a wall for people to look at. What is art other than to be hung and enjoyed and move our spirits – just go to a museum? Any artist who thinks that his work is too good for the general public…is ignorant.
Do you consider yourself a curator or businessman first?
I am an entrepreneur. I used to be a financial entrepreneur and now I am a social and cultural entrepreneur.
What is your personal fortune?
I would rather not say. It is sufficient to make sure that Ayyam Gallery will stay open, expand, and serve its artists the best it can.
