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
02/16/2011 - Issue 48
View from street level
by Obaida Hamad
Riyadh Neama, an Iraqi artist who came to Syria in search of freedom, has finally realized his dream of producing a collection of paintings that shows the reality of life as lived on an ordinary street.
His latest work, entitled ‘The Street,’ can be seen from January 25 until February 26 at the Rafia Gallery in Damascus.
It is his fourth solo exhibition in Syria but the 42-year-old has exhibited extensively internationally - in Lebanon, Jordan, the Czech Republic, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. One day he hopes to show his work in his native Iraq.
Please tell our readers a little about yourself.
I was born in Baghdad in 1968, although my family are originally from southern Iraq. I obtained my BA from Baghdad University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. In 1998, I was forced to leave my country for political reasons under the regime of the former president Saddam Hussein. Ever since I was young, I had a dream of coming to Damascus and most Iraqi intellectuals who left the country came to live here. Currently, I spend most of my time painting. I also do some graphic design work.
What does Syria add to your own artistic experience and vision?
My experience in Iraq was simple, naive and had no roots. When I came to Syria I began painting with no taboos, no censorship and no restriction. Syria, compared to Iraq, is freedom. As with most Iraqi artists, I was just drawing with sandy colours, using Sumerian symbols and palm trees. I think artists who paint with these materials do it for commercial reasons - it’s “tourism painting” and does not touch national identity, but it does make money. When I moved here, I met many good Syrian artists and critics, one of them told me that I should illustrate what I know and not look to what is in my memory. Then, I started to become influenced by Syrian subjects and colors, which are more fresh and greener in color.
Can you explain the school of art your works represents?
I didn’t commit to a single art school in my career. Many artists and critics disapprove of moving among different schools of art. I think any artist cannot stick to one school in all his works. I began with the realist school when I was going to Baghdad’s coffee shops to paint portraits and still life. Later, I did some copying of well-known international artists’ pictures, not to sell but to practice and learn their skills. I did some work in the modernization school but only for two years at the end of the 1980s. Then, I began painting in an expressionist realist style up until this latest collection.
What is the theme for your latest collection ‘The Street’ and why did you choose it?
I named this collection ‘The Street’ to show the reality of lives around the world. It is a cosmopolitan theme. I chose children with gray backgrounds in most pictures because children represent all humanity and the dark backgrounds illustrate the hard and unclear future, especially for Iraqis who have no stable or clear future. This collection was shown in Amman and Beirut. Today, the collection is on display at the Rafia Gallery in Damascus.
Where would you most like to display your work?
My dream is to show this collection in Baghdad’s streets, opposite the Green Zone where the concrete walls face Iraqis and divide them. The invasion of Iraq pushed me to be closer to real life and also to realize how hard it is to demonstrate the bloody and difficult reality on a still and motionless painting.
