THE hidden symbols in his paintings tell many incomplete stories about his beloved Iraq. They tell of the stories his grandmother related to him when he was a little boy, as he sat on her knee. In his exhibition the Iraqi artist Hassan Aboud sticks to his homeland's legacy, which appears in his colours and lines. His paintings are like a dialogue between himself and his surroundings. "My memories of my homeland, Iraq, inspire me. The curves in my paintings represent traditional folk stories," says Aboud, who was born in 1956. Aboud, who left Iraq a long time ago and now lives in Holland, is full of nostalgia for his past with its memories. "I live on my own most of the time and I'm afraid of being alone. The only thing that makes me feel better is painting on a white canvas, which makes me feel like I'm living in another, parallel world," Aboud told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview. One of his works contains musical symbols, as if he wants his painting to play music. "That is exactly what I'm doing. I feel that I'm not drawing but playing music, Iraqi music," said Aboud, who graduated from the Graphics Department in the Arts College in Baghdad in 1980. The artist also uses the colour yellow in his paintings to give them an Oriental flavour. "Being an Iraqi living in Holland has made me eager to showing my Oriental feelings. In Europe you don't find much yellow in nature, but mostly greys and blues. “Yellow is very common in our Middle Eastern nature, which is why I use it so much," the artist explained, adding that artists should be aware of what is happening around them. "Although I live outside Iraq, my voice here in Holland reaches many people very quickly. Most Iraqi artists are immigrants living outside Iraq. Iraqi artists are known more outside Iraq. ”I've chosen Egypt for my exhibition, because it is a great country and I love it. I thirst for everything in Egypt: its people, dialect, streets, food, everything.” The exhibition of Iraqi artist Hassan Aboud is being held in the Atelier Mona Hassan, Gauguin Hall, 8 Samir Zaki St., off Mohamed Mazhar St., Zamalek (02/2738-1432). The exhibition ends Sunday.
