Omar Khayyam a l’heure de la sieste MEDIA: Oil on canvas SIZE: 150 x 150 cm Bio Mona Trad Dabaji graduated from the American University of Beirut, just as the civil war broke out in Lebanon. She currently lives and works in Beirut, where she has been teaching since 1993. Ever since, her work has […]

Tuğberk Selçuk was born in Istanbul in 1986. After studying in the United States and Great Britain, he returned to Turkey and studied at the Department of Industrial Design at Yeditepe University with Aziz Sarıyer, who inspired and guided his development as a sculptor.

Besher Koshaji was born, and grew up, in Syria during the 1980s. In the wake of recent tragic events and Syria’s almost constantly tumultuous political situation Besher was forced to leave behind his home and his family in order to seek refuge in Jordan during 2012.

Completely self-taught and unable to speak Arabic, the French artist Julien Breton has developed his own unique form of virtual calligraphy, based on a Latin-style alphabet and inspired by an Arabic and Eastern aesthetic. With a multi-cultural take on calligraphy, Breton’s work incorporates the cultural identity and style of East and West, often taking inspiration from western philosophy, hip hop and street art.

Known as one of Istanbul’s contemporary intellectuals, Bedri Baykam was born in Ankara. He started to paint when he was only two years old, and has had several exhibitions since the age of six in Bern, Geneva, New York, Washington, London, Rome, Munich, Stockholm, to name a few. He studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris from 1975 to 1980 and received an MBA degree. During this time, he also studied drama in L’Actorat du Cinema in Paris. He lived in California during the years 1980-1987, where he studied painting and filmmaking at the California College of Arts and Crafts, in Oakland till 1984. He had several shows in New York, California and Paris during those Californian years. He returned to Turkey in 1987 and has been living in Istanbul since.

Patrick Altes was born in Algeria of French and Spanish origins and, as a child, was part of the exodus towards France once Algeria achieved independence. Since then he has lived extensively in Ecuador, South America and, most recently, the United Kingdom.

Irini Gonou was born in 1955 in Athens. She studied sculpture at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts and then at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs, where she has also worked as a workshop assistant for two years at the section of ceramic sculpture.

Born in Khartoum, Sudan, Islam Zian Alabdeen studied Applied Arts at the University of Sudan. He spent the years following study exhibiting extensively in his native country and Europe, and developing workshops for adults and children. A contemporary painter, Islam produces colourful romantic abstracts in oil on canvas.

Hamad and Ali were a Pop Art duo who enjoyed presenting the Arab culture and history through their contemporary vision by using digital art base and mixed media on canvas in attempt to create their own principle, No Rules, in their artworks. Coming from two different backgrounds, Hamad and Ali found a common ground through their collaboration that bridges all cultural and political differences between east and west proving to the world that art strips all conflicts to bring creative minds together.

Ugur Caki, an emerging contemporary artist, was born in Izmir, Turkey. During his education at Dokuz Eylul University, he participated in several group exhibitions, including helping to organise the Izmir International Ceramics Symposium. His art developed and began to reach maturity after he founded his first studio in Urla, Zeytinalan, where he started working on the techniques of bronze moulding. He then further refined his technique and perhaps the most distinctive feature of his works is his contemporary interpretation of classical deities, which later became the panache of his signature style.