Portrait
15/9/2001-30/9/2001
Muhammad Saleh Khalil

The Artist:

Khalil was born in Zarqa, Jordan in 1960. In 1988 he graduated from the Art Academy in Dresden, Germany. Khalil has received numerous awards; in 1988 he received the Hans Gruendish Art Medal, he was also awarded the Bronze medal at the International book festival in Leipzig (1999), and the Directors Panel award at the Alexandria Biennale. The artist's first personal exhibit was in 1989 in Damascus, since then, he has exhibited in Cyprus, France and Palestine. His work is owned by several individuals in Oman, Dubai, Syria, Germany, France and Palestine. He was a resident artist at the Paris Cite des Arts in 2001, where he completed the works of this exhibit.

The Exhibit:

"Muhammad Saleh Khalil departs from his pre-Parisian Abstract work and leads us into his new expressionist style, a culmination of his experiences studying in Germany. In an effortless transition he turns to weary faces and droopy figures, expressing his hidden sorrow, frustration, and pain.
It is as if the artist in this exhibit relentlessly asks the question, what is art in a time of war?. Can it survive as a subject outside all of life's restraints?" .