Abdullah Murad

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Abdullah Murad occupies a distinctive position within modern Syrian abstraction, formulating a personal pictorial language that unites the rhythmic fluidity of the Arabesque with the gestural energy of Western Abstract Expressionism. Educated at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus, where he graduated in 1970, Murad developed an experimental vocabulary that merges calligraphic spontaneity with the chromatic boldness of Fauvism. His paintings are constructed through successive layers of pigment and collage, alternating between dense impasto and translucent glazes that create a finely balanced tension between dynamism and repose. Rejecting overt narrative or ideological frameworks, Murad’s work privileges intuition and improvisation, resulting in compositions that hover between lyric abstraction and deliberate formal structure. His process frequently incorporates fragments of printed material or textured matter, transforming the surface into a palimpsest of gestures and materials. This layered treatment lends his paintings a meditative quality in which each stratum retains traces of the artist’s movement and time. Murad gained recognition through numerous exhibitions in Damascus, Sharjah and internationally, and his works now form part of significant public collections, including the Sharjah Art Museum, the National Museum of Damascus and the Dalloul Art Foundation. Recipient of the first prize at the 1984 Tribute to Miró and Picasso exhibition organised by the Spanish Cultural Centre in Damascus, he remains active within the Syrian Syndicate of Fine Arts and the Arab Artists Union. By combining material experimentation with instinctive gesture, Abdullah Murad redefined abstraction in the Arab world as an art of introspection and sensory resonance, establishing himself among its most enduring innovators.