‘I Wish to See Like a God and Paint Like an Animal’ Exhibition by Houssam Ballan

Mark Hachem Gallery announces the first solo exhibition for Syrian artist Houssam Ballan. This much-awaited exhibition, “I wish to see like a God and Paint like an Animal” will exhibit over 15 recent works in painting by this young emerging artist.

“I wish to see like a God and Paint like an Animal”
The way we see objects is relative and mainly dependent on our senses, like the eye, which is just a ‘vehicle’. The inside leads us to see an object from an infinite number of viewpoints, including from inside, until there will be possibly no point of view any more. For ‘God’ doesn’t see in the same way we do. We only see – almost – from one point of view and by means of our sense. Hence what we call “Realism” should be called Illustrationism, Resemblism or Naturalism etc., as it’s just rough imitation. True Realism, which depicts the original and eternal pure form of the object, is even closer to its existence. The living part in me, not the “mechanical” part, is the one that sees, witnesses and depicts.

I’m trying to be naïve in expression, to the extent that colors, lines, and compositions I use may satisfy my instinctive passion of vision. That’s what I call “depicting like an animal”. While seeing the eternal and constant in the form of object is what I call “to see like a God”. In either case the enemy I try to avoid in my work is the rational: the despicable gatekeeper of imagination.

I find the closest thing to represent me is the “Illuminationism” legacy of Sufism here. My intention is to present a modern artwork through the concept of Illumination. This has led to a development throughout the paintings in this exhibition, as a personal research I would like to share with you. This Illumination concept implies dissimilarity of the works. The region I come from teems with many concepts make the superior become a daily matter and other metaphysical ideas related to the human and the eye the (vehicle) of side and also with a rich artistic legacy where artists presented their beliefs more than the outer appearance of objects, where vision supports perception and not the contrary. We find this rooted in human nature instinctively as in children.

My work moves away from repetition and clichés and symbols where forms are derived from my perceived reality in an attempt to explore the possibilities of shapes and colors in different visual concepts as close as possible to the primal instinctive perception and away from the utopia of symbols.

About the artist:
Houssam Ballan born in 1983 in Suwaida, Syria. The artist still lives and works in Suwaida.

A graduate in Fine Arts from the University of Damascus, he participated in workshops with the American artist & photographer J. Bradley Adams, French artist Pierre Palas and Spanish artist Jose Freixanes.

Ballan graduated from the technical school of Suwaida in 2000 and received his Bachelor degree in Fine Arts, from the University of Damascus, Faculty of Fine arts, painting Department in 2005.

Ballan will hold his first solo exhibition at Mark Hachem gallery in 2014. He has also featured in a number of collective exhibitions and auctions around the world.

Opening reception:
Friday, March 14, 2014 from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.