Lot 521: f - Ahmad Moualla , Syrian B. 1958 The Letter acrylic on canvas

signed and dated 2000 acrylic on canvas

measurements note 185 by 199.6cm.; 72 3/4 by 78 2/3 in.

Ahmad Moualla is one of Syria's most exceptional contemporary artists. His paintings are the result of his profound critical struggle with life, with man, and the social and political environs in which he exists. Moualla works rapidly, setting the protagonists of his scenarios onto the canvas in paint without any preliminary studies. He applies the paint with pieces of plastic, wood or cardboard, but also with a knife. This is the way he has painted since the 1990s, but has since been trying something new: "neither an occidental, nor an oriental, but a personal" perspective, as he himself says.

A whole series of works has been kept to black-and-white. Black and white are used for the sake of their contrast, their clarity and simplicity vis-à-vis the viewer, who does not lose his way in gradations of colour. The black is directly applied, while white is the colour of the blank canvas, as it is here. The white of the unpainted canvas dominates the picture plane and immediately attracts the viewer's attention. Like silhouettes, human figures are grouped around the white shape, which is a large, unfurled cloth, a trampoline that is being activated by those standing around it. The event is a reference to the elections, to human vanity and self-promotion, and mocks the saying: 'he who dares wins'.