Young Collectors Auction - exhibit-E

YaserSAFI1976Lot 052Signed, Dated, Numerated40 X 31 cm. Etching (13/25) 2003Estimate (US$ 1,000 - 2,000)Yaser Safi’s paintings exemplify an unconventional yet remarkable approach to depictingthe human form. Born in Kamishli, Syria in 1976, he studied sculpture at the Faculty ofFine Arts Damascus and later pursued a master’s degree in graphic arts. Since graduatingin 1999, he has participated in solo and group exhibitions throughout the Arab world.An award winning artist, he has received such prestigious honors as the first prize forengraving in the Damascus Youth Salon and second place in print making at the LattakiaBiennale. Safi made his first appearance with Ayyam in its “Shabab Uprising” exhibition in2009 and had successful sales in Miami and Palm beach art fairs, and at Ayyam Gallery’sYoung Collector’s Auction I & II in Dubai.Essentially colorist compositions, Safi’s animated canvases attract the viewer’s eye withhighly stylized portraits executed in bright hues and fluid brushwork, demonstrating animpressive command of medium. His latest paintings possess a distinct psychology, as hecaptures the fundamental nature of social interaction and the predicament of man in themodern world. Large childlike figures are often shown walking on city streets. Street signs,roads, small cars and other markers of urban life suggest a bustling metropolis. Yet despitebeing surrounded by this chaotic setting, the figures are monumental in size, towering overthe man-made elements of their surroundings. They are also seemingly elemental to theirenvironment, informing its existence. By rendering his subjects as such, the artist suggeststhe importance of man over the city—that no matter how drastic the changes to our urbanlandscape are, the essence of man shall survive. His figures thus become immortal beings.Safi’s creative insights are far reaching in their scope and highly relevant to today’s globalsociety.