Damascus-Sana
The great Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, with his creative legacy and identification with Damascus, love and women, was the greatest present at the opening of the 17th session of the 17th Syria International Caricature Exhibition, which bore his name in honor of a poet who has always been considered a symbol of Jasmine.
The exhibition, which was inaugurated today in the exhibition hall in Dar Al-Assad for Culture and Arts, included nearly 100 paintings by artists from 75 countries, to devote the celebration of this international event for the third year in a row with creative Syrian fancies, starting with the late artist Nidal Sejri and the writer Muhammad Al-Maghout.
500 artists competed for the exhibition competition prizes, where the artist Joe Church from Brazil won the first place, the second by Arkan Al-Zaidi from Iraq and the third and Ian Fate from Iran. There were special prizes for artists from Montenegro, Russia, Bulgaria, Peru, Belarus, Iran and Colombia.
The jury included Peruvian artists Walter Toscano, the Portuguese Antonio Santas, the Egyptian Omar Al-Siddiq, and from Syria, Bushra Al-Hakim, Mowafak Makhoul, Raed Khalil, and the critic Saad Al-Qasim.
The exhibition presented promotional prizes to each of the artists Ramez Hajj Hussein and Muhammad Al-Ali, and for the smallest participation by Gori Abu Al-Sil and the poet Amir Samawi.
In a statement to SANA, the director of the exhibition, cartoonist Raed Khalil confirmed that Syria will remain the source of good and beauty despite all circumstances, and these exhibitions are an opportunity to shed light on the creative people who opened the gates of contemplation and learn about this life and left us a rich legacy and created bridges of communication with the other, indicating that the exhibition opens the gates. Cultural cross-fertilization with the world due to the widespread art of caricature, its courageous handling of events and personalities, and its being the closest art to people's hearts.
Among the members of the jury, the plastic artist Bushra al-Hakim indicated that most of the paintings that participated in the exhibition competition, especially the one that won the first places, carried the criteria of the idea, font, color and work as a whole in addition to the required message indicating the understanding and ability to read the poet Qabbani from foreign artists like their Syrian counterparts “because the concept Love does not need a language. ”
The plastic artist Mowafak Makhoul stated that the exhibition competition adopted international standards based on the intelligence of the idea and the accurate professional drawing with the work of intersection between the opinions of the committee to choose the best work, pointing to the success of the painters and their work in expressing the poet Nizar Qabbani and the idea of love and its meaning in life, which confirms the ability of caricature art to Presenting an intellectual visual cultural case, especially in times of crisis.
The participation of the youngest of the honorees, the 8-year-old girl, Gori Abu El-Sil, came through her painting by Khalil, which showed her talent as explained by her mother and her love of drawing.
The Syria International Caricature Exhibition launched its first session in 2005 under the title “Caricature is a free feather in a dispossessed world,” with the participation of painters from 30 countries, and its paintings at that time dealt with wars and the scourge they wreak on peoples, especially in the region.
Rasha Mahfoud and Mays Al-Ani