BASSEL SAADI
artist
statement
I began discovering my sculptural style when I started using metal surfaces in 1999, at first I worked on the concept of the human head and the metal surfaces helped me to move fantastically and develop architectural forms liberated in space. Influenced by Julio Gonzalez and the surface of Matisse and Russian constructivist. In 2003, I received the gold award for sculpture in Syria. However, my work was not acquired at all because I used iron and what is required in the art market is noble materials such as bronze, wood and marble. In fact, in the beginning of 2004, my work will become more extreme; at that point I started trying to convey the influence of american art in the 1930s and 1940s (sculpture and studies of David Smith, movement in the works of Pollock and boxes of Louise Nevelson) to sculpture. After 8 months of paper studies I came up with what I will call the "Boxes", this concept represents: shelter - grave - uterus - prison. Technically, the space was a challenging for I was making sculpture under restricted conditions.I was born in Lebanon and lived the beginnings of the civil war , and the memories of hiding from the bomb shells in the shelters came back with the concept of the Boxes. In Syria we lived under the rule of brutal and ignorant dictatorship, besieged the man and isolated him and here also "Boxes" were expressing psychologically and technically a closed political situation. The Boxes concept is a central case in my artistic career, it is an indirect expression of words we can't say, while at the same time a technical reaction to the vulgar and fake art culture representing life in Syria in a peaceful way. The boxes are in thin iron sheets bending because of the welding temperature and what makes it coherent is a few welding points, which gives a sense of disintegration or workability to collapse. Strong optical construction is matched by the possibility of disintegration of the work at any moment. It is the existential concern experienced by generations under the dictatorship.In 2010, the stage began to paint the sculpture as an entertaining artistic experiment in which I tried to break down the state of personal anxiety. This experiment developed and created colored sculpture works and collage paintings.In fact, colored sculptures were made in different and enjoyable ways. The last work of this stage was completed in 2016 in Damascus under the circumstances of the war.Now that I settled in Italy I go back to experimenting with the "Boxes" and discovered good possibilities I had not previously known within this concept.
Exhibitions
2018 Immaginaria gallery, Florence, Italy
2017 Villa Romana, Florence, Italy
2016 Agial gallery Beirut, Lebanon
2015 Aafak Gallery, Damascus, Syria
2013 Participating in " Art Dubai "
2013 groub exhibition Cuadro Gallery Dubai
2012 Participating in the 7th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary art (by net)
2011 Kozaah Gallery, Damascus, Syria
2008 Damascus Capital of Arab Culture – the new generation of the Syrian artists
2007 exhibition at Villa de bank, Enschede – The Netherlands
2007 Moustafa Ali Gallery, Damascus, Syria
2006 Group show at “ Buci” Gallery, Paris, France
2005 Abed Al Hameed Shuman Gallery, Amman, Jordan
2004 Dar Almada, Damascus, Syria
2004 Zara Gallery, Amman, Jordan
2003 “Damascus” Gallery, Damascus, Syria
2003 French Cultural Center, Damascus –with the participation of artist Raed Yassin (dance)
2002 Dar Almada, Damascus, Syria
2000 Exhibition with Waled Karesly at “Damascus” Gallery, Damascus, Syria
1998 Ashtar Gallery , Damascus, Syria
Workshops & lectures
2017 - workshop at (Liceo Artistico Petrocchi) Pistoia
2017- Syrian art from the 1950s until now, Jorio Vivarelli Foundation - Pistoia - Italy
2017- Art in times of revolution and war. Villa Romana - Florence – Italy
2016 - Supervisor of a workshop for Iron Sculpture - September
2015 - Workshop (coloring the space) for architectural students- March
2014 - Workshop (coloring the space) for architectural students - October
2013 - Supervisor of a workshop for Iron Sculpture - April
2013 - Workshop (coloring the space) for architectural students – March
2012 - Workshop (coloring the space) for architectural students - April
1012 - Workshop ( coloring the space) for architectural students - February
2007 - Here as center of the world ” with dutch art institute (Dyarbakir-Turkey)
2007 - Supervisor of a workshop for Iron Sculpture at Bassel Saadi studio - july
2006 - lecture about modern sculptor trends until 1960 at Bassel Saadi workshop - jun
2006 – (here as center of the world workshop) with dutch art institute (Damascus-Syria)
2006 - Gadani workshop- vasl” karachi – Pakistan
2005- Supervisor of a workshop for Iron Sculpture at Bassel Saadi studio - january
2005 - Aiwa workshop, Aley - Lebanon - july
2003- Supervisor of a workshop for Iron Sculpture at “Damascus International Fair Grounds” - october
2002 - Supervisor of a workshop for Iron Sculpture at “Damascus International Fair Grounds” - september
2001 - Workshop under supervision of Marwan, at “Abed Al Hameed Shuman” foundation, Amman, Jordan - September
Articles
Al Awan site - Egypt
Al Akhbar newspaper – Lebanon
Assafir newspaper – Lebanon
Al watan newspaper - Syria
Awards
2002 Award of “competition of the Institution of Damascus International
Fair” Syria
2003 Award of “competition of the Institution of Damascus International
Fair” Syria
2003 First award at “Al Mahaba” Festival, Lattakia, Syria
Scenography
- Designed the senography for the play “Insomnia” by “Studio Theatre” band, 2004.
- Designed the senography for the play “Samaah” by “Studio Theatre” band, 2008.