An expression of ‘tradition’ by painters from GCC

SALALAH, Sept 18 - Salalah is an inspiring destination for the painters from the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) who gathered at the Sultan Qaboos Youth Complex for Culture and Entertainment and did spot painting, while focussing on ‘tradition’ of the region. The five-day gathering was hosted by the Salalah chapter of the Oman Society of Fine Arts (OSFA). It was mainly a knowledge sharing exercise in the form of a workshop from among the GCC artists as it made a very good combination of senior and junior artists. A very senior artist from Qatar, Hassan al Mulla, however, ruled out the artists being senior or junior and said: “Artists are artists. Some very junior artists come out with very good work. It depends how passionately you carry your work of art.”

Ahmed al Mashikhi, Assistant Manager OSFA Salalah, was happy over the painters’ gathering and called it an opportunity to host art talents from the GCC countries. He assured more such exchanges in future in which the OSFA would invite artists for theme based participation.

Explaining the purpose of the gathering, Zainab Laith, a participant from Bahrain said, “We are honoured to here in Salalah amid nice weather and state-of-the-art multi-purpose recreation centre where the workshop is going on.” “It is a learning opportunity for all the artists and most importantly it is an opportunity to learn from each other. With ‘tradition’ being the theme of the workshop we artists chose to work on tradition of Oman. The painters’ works would be displayed here giving them an opportunity get more and more visibility as I see many high profile events happening here on daily basis,” she said.

Among the painters are one male and one female artist from each of the countries. From Bahrain are Zainab Laith and Hussain Issa; Mufrrah Asiri and Salma al Shaikh from Saudi Arabia; Hasan al Mulla and Hessa Kall from Qatar; Asad Bunashi and Maryam al Mulla from Kuwait; and from UAE are Abdulrahman Salem and Khulood al Jabri. Being host Oman is represented by some seven artists at the workshop. The artists from other countries appreciated the level of talent of Omanis artists who took part in the event.

Among Omani artists were Ahmed Jaboob, Maryam al Mamri, Armani al Yafai, Zainab al Ajmi, Said al Royedi, Ibtisam al Dhahoori and Faisal Rajab.

Omani artists called the gathering hugely beneficial as they learnt new trends and style from the fellow artists from other GCC countries. Traditional similarities inspired them to have more such gatherings for the sake of exchange of ideas and perception for their future works.