Biography Of Saad Yagan

Born in Aleppo, Syria in 1950, Saad Yagan is a leading contemporary Syrian painter.
He is regarded as a key member in the development of contemporary Syrian Art and is
one of the most significant modern-expressionist painters in the Middle-East.
Yagan began painting at the age of thirteen. He studied painting at the Plastic Arts
Center of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Aleppo and graduated in 1964. He held his first solo
exhibition at the city’s National Museum five years later.
Yagan is widely known for chronicling the modern day experiences of Aleppo residents
and their instinctive attachment to the centuries-old city. Yagan’s atmospheric paintings
have followed two distinct tracts, and can be divided between scenes derived from
ancient mythology and literature such as his Gilgamesh and Arabian Nights series, and
compositions exploring the morose café culture that hosts Syria’s recluses, alienated
philosophers, and an assortment of other downtrodden clientele.
Yagan’s narrative threads feature stylized figures whose elongated faces appear worn
by time, adopting the lines and brushwork of their settings. Yet their muscular bodies,
which appear to be patterned after the perception of hallowed bodies found in religious
icons, are rendered with an aestheticized elegance.
Over the past 50 years, he has produced a vibrant, compelling and expressive body of
work in painting. His work is internationally acquired, and heavily reviewed in
newspapers, magazines and televisions. He has also been featured in several art books
and his personal art books titled; ‘Gilgamesh’, ‘Music’ ‘1001 Nights’, ‘Liberation’ and the
‘History of Aleppo’. He has served as a commentator for Syrian television, broadcasting
a series of documentaries on art. Yagan has also lectured extensively in local
universities.
To date, he has exhibited in over one hundred exhibitions at home and abroad.
His works are housed in the National Museum of Damascus and Aleppo and the Syrian
Ministry of Culture. Internationally his works can be found in Musee d’Art Contemporainde
Montreal, Canada, Museum of Modern Art, Belgium and the Jordan National Gallery
of Fine Arts.
The artist’s recent solo and group exhibitions have been held at Mark Hachem Gallery,
Beirut (2014); Art House, Damascus (2011, 2009, 2008); Katzen Center for the Arts,
Washington DC (2007); and Art Form Gallery, Montreal (2007)
In 2012 he was successfully auctioned at Christies, Dubai for his painting Bayaa’ al
Jara’id Abou Hosn (The newspaper Seller Abou Hosn)
Saad Yagan currently lives in Beirut, Lebanon.

Artist Statement

My art is universal as it portrays human feelings and psychology. Love, jealousy and other human feelings are the same whether you are in Japan, Denmark, Syria or Sudan. From boredom, to depression, to loneliness, I want to reveal what people are thinking. People mix in coffee shops and public places but deep down inside, they have a completely separate psychology and are each on their own.

My main aim is to illustrate oppressed people who are aware of their problems but unwilling to find a solution. I want viewers to receive that message and think whether maybe they can do something. Wherever there is a humanitarian crisis, the message in my paintings applies ... Saad Yagan