{"id":7539,"date":"2010-10-12T15:05:18","date_gmt":"2010-10-12T19:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=7539"},"modified":"2010-10-13T15:14:30","modified_gmt":"2010-10-13T19:14:30","slug":"damascus-art-gallery-ignites-syrian-culture-war-by-khaled-yacoub-oweis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/damascus-art-gallery-ignites-syrian-culture-war-by-khaled-yacoub-oweis\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Damascus art gallery ignites Syrian culture war,&#8221; By Khaled Yacoub Oweis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"Damascus%20art%20gallery%20ignites%20Syrian%20culture%20war\">Damascus art gallery ignites Syrian culture war<\/a><br \/>\nWed Oct 13, 2010<br \/>\nBy Khaled Yacoub Oweis<br \/>\n<a rel=\"attachment wp-att-7565\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=7565\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7565\" title=\"SYRIA-ART\/\" src=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Youssef-Abdelke20101.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"700\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Arab master painter Youssef Abdelke shows one of his latest works at his atelier in Damascus September 23, 2010. A duel between Abdelke, who had spend two years as a political prisoner, and a banker-turned gallery owner, who helped introduce modern Arab art to international markets, has divided Syria&#8217;s conservative art world. The picture taken on September 23, 2010. REUTERS\/ Khaled al-Hariri (SYRIA)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>DAMASCUS Oct 7 (Reuters) &#8211; A banker-turned-gallery-owner  has ignited a &#8216;cultural war&#8217; in Syria&#8217;s conservative art world with an  aggressive drive to introduce contemporary Arab art to lucrative  international markets.<\/p>\n<p>The row&#8230; strikes at the heart of the Damascus art world, pitching  an intellectual tradition forged by the political and social turmoil of  the last four decades against a more apolitical, western-oriented  commercial ethos.<\/p>\n<p>Youssef Abdelke, whose etchings and charcoal paintings depict an era  of Arab political malaise, says the flamboyant owner of the Ayyam  Gallery, Khaled Samawi,is selling substandard work at high prices. This,  he argues, lowers quality throughout the Middle East and threatens what  established artists and veteran gallerists consider serious art. The  60-year-old artist, who counts the British Museum among collectors of  his works, left Ayyam last year in protest.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;. Fadi Yazigi, whose works have been also auctioned  internationally, left the gallery shortly after Abdelke. The third major  artist to leave was Mouneer al-Shaarani&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>Established Damascene galleries say that Ayyam has inflated prices by  building up a large collection, limiting supply and marketing unknown  artists to undiscerning Gulf clients&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>Samawi disputes Abdelke&#8217;s accusations and says Syrian art was undervalued before his entry to the gallery scene in 2006&#8230;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The Ayyam gallery&#8217;s aggressive marketing strategy has included expansion in Beirut and Dubai and selling through the international auction houses Christie&#8217;s and Sotheby&#8217;s, exposing Syrian art to a wider audience.<\/p>\n<p>The debate escalated last month after a provocative YouTube video showed a newspaper article by Abdelke being burnt. In the article the painter accuses Samawi of peddling art as a commodity.<\/p>\n<p>The video was made by Ammar al-Beik, one of the young artists Ayyam is marketing as a contemporary artist &#8212; a contrast to the more socially critical generation of Abdelke.<\/p>\n<p>70-year old painter Leila Nseir sided with Samawi, saying Ayyam had  marketed her work professionally and awarded her long overdue  recognition as an Arab pioneer.<\/p>\n<p>Nseir was a contemporary of the late Syrian master Fateh  al-Moudarres, who sold his paintings for $300 to $1,000 up until his  death in 1999. His works now fetch almost $200,000.<\/p>\n<p>Sussan Babaie, art professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, said it was understandable established artists would feel &#8220;discomfort with Ayyam as the purveyor of a life-style category&#8221; that mimics Western galleries&#8230;. &#8220;My colleagues in the West mockingly look at much of this art and think of it as derivative&#8230;all rather old hat.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-7552\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=7552\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-7552\" title=\"SYRIA-ART\/\" src=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/YoussefAbelkeSept_232010-051.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"491\" height=\"617\" srcset=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/YoussefAbelkeSept_232010-051.jpg 2164w, https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/YoussefAbelkeSept_232010-051-450x564.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 491px) 100vw, 491px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Damascus art gallery ignites Syrian culture war Wed Oct 13, 2010 By Khaled Yacoub Oweis Arab master painter Youssef Abdelke shows one of his latest works at his atelier in Damascus September 23, 2010. A duel between Abdelke, who had spend two years as a political prisoner, and a banker-turned gallery owner, who helped introduce [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soc-cult"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Damascus art gallery ignites Syrian culture war,&quot; By Khaled Yacoub Oweis - Syria Comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/damascus-art-gallery-ignites-syrian-culture-war-by-khaled-yacoub-oweis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;Damascus art gallery ignites Syrian culture war,&quot; By Khaled Yacoub Oweis - Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Damascus art gallery ignites Syrian culture war Wed Oct 13, 2010 By Khaled Yacoub Oweis Arab master painter Youssef Abdelke shows one of his latest works at his atelier in Damascus September 23, 2010. 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