About the Artist Boutros al Maari
Born in Damascus in 1968, Boutros al-Maari currently lives and works in Hamburg, Germany. Al-Maari graduated with a Printmaking degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Damascus in 1991, where he taught for several years, and obtained his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the École des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris in 2006.
The sights and sounds of the souks and tea houses of Damascus were his early inspiration. The presence of the tarbouche and the narghile water pipe, reflecting folk and traditional life, is felt and are frequent elements in al-Maari’s images. An authentic artist whose paintings you will recognize without needing to see the signature. In his painting, there is a rich effervescence of details, each more interesting than the last. The eye never tires.
In the last years of the twentieth century, al-Maari moves to Paris to pursue university research, and his work is transformed along the way. With a neo-expressionist style in the vein of Cubism and Basquiat, al-Maari’s stay in France led to written fragments of Parisian life appearing in his work, such as invitations, pamphlets, and notebook clippings.
As well as being a prolific painter, al-Maari is an author and illustrator of several books published in Paris. He has had ten solo exhibitions in Damascus, Dubai, and Beirut, most recently at Claude Lemand Gallery in Paris in 2019. He has also participated in a number of group exhibitions in Damascus, Beirut, Alexandria, Kuwait, Frankfurt, Hannover, Paris, and Singapore. His work is also included in the collections of the Syrian Ministry of Culture and the IMA (Institut du Monde Arabe) in Paris.
His art has been sold at auction at Christie’s.
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