Primitive but beautiful

Plastic artist Nazir Ismael's fifty seven paintings are on view at the Salib Muqaddas ("Holy Cross") gallery in Damascus deal with different issues but all of them bear one soul and one heart.

They present man in different situations. They show man's place -- the place of his living, his house and environment.

Man in the exhibited paintings is the pivot, even if he is absent. The artistic style of Nazir Ismael is primitive, free of artificiality or decoration. In fact, this style points to the artist's ability in dealing with form.

Brevity and simplicity are two main aspects of Nazir's panels. Primitivity creates a sense of relatedness of the viewer with the panel.

The symbols invested by the artist in his paintings speak of Arab heritage and the civilization of the region and the combined arts of the Palmyrenes, Phoenicians, Muslims.