Retrospective exhibition by Samir Salameh

RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION BY SAMIR SALAMEH
WEDNESDAY 27 JUNE 2018
CURATED BY: KHALED HOURANI
THE EXHIBITION RUNS UNTIL 15 AUGUST 2018

Four galleries, in Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Bethlehem will open their doors to host a unique and enriching art experience of one of the most influential Palestinian artists. This is the first retrospective exhibit of artist Samir Salameh. The artworks will be displayed in the showrooms of Zawyeh Art Gallery and Gallery One in Ramallah, Palestinian Art Court ‒ Al Hoash in Jerusalem, and Bab idDeir Art Gallery in Bethlehem. The exhibition will include various artworks that reflect Samir’s experience over those long years since his first exhibition in 1963, in Dera’a, Syria, while he was still an art student. Since then, he has become a renowned artist, traveling from one place to another until settling in France and then in Palestine, finding an equally warm welcome in each country.

Samir Salameh’s rich experience has contributed to plastic arts in Palestine and throughout the world. His style is dominated by his own language and methods in painting and coloring, which he has carefully developed over time while learning from his domestic heritage and opening himself to the cultural diversity of the world. Samir’s artistic journey is replete with more than seventy solo and group exhibitions hosted in Arab and foreign capitals. His artworks vary between realistic abstraction and lyrical abstraction, with the use of Arabic calligraphy and oriental themes, and also include watercolor painting, prints, and other media.

Retrospective aims to display the rich variety of artistic expressions and developments that the artist has experienced from the time of his forced exile as a Palestinian refugee until his last by-choice exile to Paris and his recurrent visits to Palestine.

The exhibition is a summation of the whole history of the artist’s life. Samir’s language and passion are reflected in the canvas and paper clips, always wrapped up in an ambiguous transparent thread, which was like a seal or a fingerprint that replaced the famous artist signature in the corner of the painting. Samir is a magnificent, elegant painter, with lines and colors that flow in endless harmony, cursing darkness and celebrating light, shadows, and the sun of the Mediterranean east always present on the horizon.