ELIAS ZAYAT | PALMYRIAN INCENSE OFFERING

Green Art Gallery, Dubai 

Elias Zayat studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia between 1956 and 1960 and the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo. Additionally, Zayat holds a degree in art restoration from the Academy of Fine Arts and Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest.

Zayat is arguably one of the most significant Syrian artists of the 20th century. After returning to Damascus in the mid-1970s, he became a key member of the country’s contemporary art movement (alongside artists such as the late masters Fateh Moudarres, Louay Kayali and Mahmoud Hammad). He was also one of the founders of the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus, where he taught until his retirement. As a painter and icon restorer, his art draws on his rich vocabulary of Byzantine, early Christian, Sufist and popular iconography. Zayat’s oeuvre is intimately concerned with the history, terrain, and psyche of his homeland. His works are weaved with a deep sense of humanitarianism – a hopefulness at the possibility of a better world. His intellectual prowess is further evident in the several studies he published in the history of art, iconography and art criticism.

Zayat lives and works in Damascus.