The Syrian Museum series created for the ‘Syria’ exhibition incorporates iconic subjects from the greatest European masters such as da Vinci, Matisse, Goya and Picasso – paralleling the greatest achievements of humanity with the destruction it is also capable of inflicting. Each is particularly relevant to what has befallen Syria. ‘The Syrian Museum’ series uses Western masterpieces not only for their notoriety and instant recognition, but to demonstrate that Syria has no world-class museums and the regime is presently killing its own cultural heritage. Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ shows the love and relationship between people and I have juxtaposed this with the capacity of hate the regime holds for its people. A work from this series which has gained international popularity on social networking sites is ‘Freedom Graffiti’. Featured on Saatchi’s Facebook page, this work recieved over 15,000 likes overnight and has been featured in such publications as the NY Times and the International Herald Tribune.This digital composition appropriates Gustave Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ upon a bullet-ridden wall, displaying the love and relationship between people and I have juxtaposed this with the capacity of hate the regime holds for its people.

text by Tammam Azzam

  Tammam Azzam: Syrian museum

Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss (Freedom Graffiti) | 2013 | archival print on cotton paper edition of 25 | 112 X 112 cm

Tammam Azzam: Syrian museum

Paul Gauguin’s Tahitian Women (On the Beach) | 2012 | archival print on canvas 45 x 40 cm

Tammam Azzam: Syrian museum

Edvard Munch’s The Scream | 2012 | archival print on canvas 100 x 70 cm

Tammam Azzam: Syrian museum

Matisse’s La Danse | 2012 | archival print on canvas | 45 x 60 cm

Tammam Azzam: Syrian museum

Dali’s Sleep | 2012 | archival print on canvas | 40 x 40 cm

Tammam Azzam: Syrian museum

Goya’s The 3rd of May 1808 | 2012 | archival print on canvas | 100 x 133 cm

Tammam Azzam: Syrian museum

Van Gogh’s Starry Night | 70 X 100 cm. Archival Print on Canvas | 2012

Tammam Azzam: Syrian museum

Andy Warhol’s Elvis | 2012 | archival print on canvas | 80 x 120 cm

Tammam Azzam: Syrian museum

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa | 2012 | archival print on canvas | 100 x 130 cm

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Biography

Tammam Azzam
Tammam Azzam

Born in 1980, Damascus, Syria Lives and works in Dubai, UAE
Tammam Azzam graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus with a concentration in Oil Painting and subsequently obtained a Fine Arts Certificate in 2001 from Darat al Funun’s Al Kharif Academy, an esteemed artist workshop series led by Syrian master, Marwan Kassab Bashi. Since joining the Shabab Ayyam Young Artists Programme in 2008, he has been featured in several significant events including the group show, ‘Stories from the Levant’, Scope Art Fair, Basel, in 2009, and Art Miami 2010, and has held solo exhibitions at Ayyam Gallery, Damascus in 2010 and Dubai in 2011 and 2012.