Born in Syria and based in Paris since 1984, the accomplished painter and printmaker Ziad Dalloul (b. 1953, Soueïda) creates paintings using traditional materials such as black and sepia ink, oil, canvas and handmade paper. Through exploring the dichotomy between the static (the intimate world of lived space and everyday objects, in particular the chair, the bed, the table and the curtain), and the ever-changing (the landscape, and more broadly nature as the site of memory and questioning), Dalloul challenges definitions associated with both the East and the West while simultaneously referencing art history's relationship to his work.
Dalloul rejects the term 'nature morte' ('still life', or literally 'dead nature'). Instead, he prefers the expression 'nature silencieuse' ('silent nature') which is derived from Arabic. Paradoxical silences exist in his work, like the mute objects laid out in a studio at the heart of a busy city centre. No logs lie in the blackened fireplace, but plants creep steadily across the walls. Pomegranates and chestnuts appear scattered on tables.
A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus (1977), Dalloul taught art in Algeria before moving to Paris, where he obtained a degree from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (1987). Skilled in painting, etching and artists' books, Dalloul is considered to be among the most accomplished artists from the Arab world.
He has been the subject of solo exhibitions in Paris, Italy, Belgium, Damascus, Jordan, Abu Dhabi, and Egypt. His works are included in prominent public collections, including the British Museum, London; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman and Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah.