Azad Hemee

Azad Hemee was born in 1979 in Qamishli, Syria to a Kurdish family. He graduated from the renowned Adham Ismail Institute of Fine Arts in Damascus in 2003. Since then he has taken part in exhibitions in Syria (e.g. Damascus and Aleppo), Iraq, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. In 2011 his paintings were exhibited at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris. Hemee has been recognized by art organizations in Saudi Arabia, Istanbul and Canada. He currently lives and works in Darmstadt, Germany.

Azad Hemee’s images of cockfights quickly made the young artist famous in Syria. On the one hand, this was due to the still great popularity of such fights in parts of the world. What is special about the works, however, is how these roosters become a dramatic symbol of human conflicts, fights and wars, especially when they transcend large formats in an expressive painting style. Despite his mostly muted color palette, Azad Hemee shines with his overall very impressive expressiveness and drama.

After Azad Hemee had repeatedly depicted fighting roosters in countless pictures, in the present picture two roosters remain waiting, in a still tense posture, as if in an as yet uncertain peace. Formally, the roosters are depicted on two separate canvases, but are closely connected by a common background.

Untitled, painting on canvas (2x 30x60cm)

I azadheme