the entrance to the courtyard of sculpturer Mustafa Ali in the Old Town of Damascus
Just around the corner from our hotel in the Old City of Damascus I encounter the atelier of Mustafa Ali, a local sculptor. After having passed three times already, without noticing. A narrow passage leads to an inner courtyard full of Mustafa’s work, quite attractive, quite innovative. Not the thing you would expect in Syria, but then, why not? There are creative people everywhere, and Mustafa is certainly one of them. What I found impressive is the variety of material he is working with. There are wooden sculptures, some of them slightly more mainstream, others unexpectedly provocative. Metal comes back in many different forms, as main material for life-size abstract sculptures of what I suppose are animals, but also as delicate copper figurines inside stone cylinders, inside wooden frames, or just sculptures in their own right, large and small.
the courtyard, aka exposition space
an original dog sculpture
this may well be a self portrait of Mustafa Ali?
another original work, depicting a whale
most works are very big, but in a separate room is a cupboard with smaller work
The only problem is that Mustafa himself isn’t there. Instead, he is represented by his manager. Who is wholly non-communicative, despite obviously a decent command of English. Hmmm, which doesn’t help in selling, not to me at least. What doesn’t help either is that the tiniest piece in the entire collection already needs to cost US$ 200. In Syria, that is an enormous amount of money. Some other time, and somewhere else, perhaps. Or not: Mustafa’s website doesn’t work, gets directed to something Chinees.
But a nice collection it is, and I enjoy looking at it.
next: back to Damascus, or check out some early conclusions of the trip.
of which I liked this one – lighter for scale – but at US$ 200 a bit too steeply priced
