Ayyam Gallery Dubai (Al Quoz) is pleased to announce Noor Bahjat’s forthcoming graduation exhibition from 3 August - 15 September 2015.

As the first artist to be awarded Ayyam Gallery’s Young Artist in Residency program, Bahjat will present a selection of her new work produced under the mentorship of established artists Tammam Azzam and Mohannad Orabi, in a purpose built studio at the Dubai flagship of the international art space.

Graduating at the top of her class from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Damascus the artist works from detailed sketches and self-portraits in a painterly, expressionist style and with a primarily figurative subject matter. Skillfully transitioning between warm and cool palettes Bahjat creates deeply atmospheric canvases infused with reoccurring, symbolic objects. Influenced by postwar artists such as Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon, the artist captures the most inane of human actions and elevates them to deeply compelling, intimate portrayals focused on the body as it undergoes transformation within the confined space of the composition. Deviating from her painting practice, experiments with collage and mixed media reveal new and dynamic developments within the artist’s body of work.

Born in Damascus, Syria in 1991, Noor Bahjat now lives and works in the United Arab Emirates. Having previously taken part in several group exhibitions this marks the artist’s first solo show.