Oussama Diab was born in Damascus in 1977 to an artistic Palestinian family and studied at the art school affiliated to Damascus University. He then built a highly productive career as a visual artist. Until fleeing to the Netherlands in 2015, he was a respected and successful artist in the Middle East. For ten years, he was represented exclusively by Ayyam Gallery, with locations in Damascus, Beirut, London and Dubai. This leading contemporary arts gallery in the Middle East organised several solo exhibitions of his work, as well as helping to arrange his participation in various exhibitions in the Middle East, the US, Europe and Asia.

Since his arrival in the Netherlands in 2015, he has dedicated himself to pursuing his career as an artist here in a completely different context. A major impetus for this were two grants from the Mondriaan Fund.

While studying at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University, Oussama was deeply influenced by modern Western art, particularly expressionism, cubism and pop art.

Horse, rope, flowers | 2016 | 200 x 135 cm | mixed media on canvas

In Dutch museums, he was introduced to the work of great Western artists, which he had previously only known from pictures. That encounter made a big impression on him. He was very moved when he first saw a Van Gogh or Rembrandt painting in real life, for example. The knowledge he once learned from books now became living knowledge, touching and inspiring him to further develop his own work.

Over the years, Oussama has worked in a variety of styles, with various themes, a range of materials and in different formats: he is always driven by the desire to innovate, and to explore and push the boundaries of his work. A constant element in his work is his preference for free painting in a large format, adapting his style to the subject matter he is working on. But above all, there is a recurring underlying motif: the investigation into humanity and what it means to be human.

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil | 2023 | 200 x 300 cm | mixed media on canvas

From his background as a stateless Palestinian, Oussama has actually always been a refugee, also in his native country Syria. His work has constantly reflected on the questions relating to humanity and freedom, justice and injustice, violence and struggle, human suffering and loss. Those issues concerned him from an early age: living in a region characterised by violence and profound political turmoil, such questions are never far away. Despite having experienced war and loss first-hand, he has always been moved by compassion and by hope too – another thing he always wants to express in his work. In doing so, he is not primarily concerned with political issues, but with the principles of humanity.

Dream journey | 2021 | 150 x 120 cm | acrylic, spray paint and charcoal on canvas

Oussama works with a personal iconography developed over the course of his artistic career: visual elements that play a role in his work throughout his oeuvre, with shifting meanings. Take the bird, for example, traditionally an image of freedom, which has taken on new connotations after his hasty flight from Damascus. The image of the folded paper boat constantly imposes itself on him after his flight through the Mediterranean. A hand with a flower remains a sign of hope in different circumstances. The lamp reminds him of two different notions of light known in Arabic: the light that shines from the outside, and the Rembrandtesque light that illuminates from within – it is the latter that he particularly seeks to achieve. The headless mannequin is an image of a person tied to their own background and history. The artist forces them to face what they have brought about.

Portrait | 2023 | 30 x 21 cm | watercolour

In recent years, Oussama has painted and drawn many portraits in a variety of styles: the faces of those he saw suffering, but in whom he also finds hope for a new future and for an intense connection of humanity. Portraits that are the mirror of the soul, reflecting fears, hopes and desires. They are not portraits depicting a specific person. Oussama presents the inner life and emotion of people living with their memories and dreams. He thus wants to reveal humanity – what it is to be human, with memories and hopes.

His portraits are emotionally charged, they are direct, dynamic in terms of signature and imagery. They emerge spontaneously and in the moment.

You are drawn to it…