~(@)~

February 12, 2008 3:22 AM

"I believe that before anything art should bring happiness to the viewer." ~ Adib Fattal, Syrian Painter who infuses his work with bright colours (Titanic), optimistic scenes of places he remembers as a child (Jenin, Palestine), and wild life (Return of the Birds). More of his work here. [via]
posted by hadjiboy (13 comments total)

But what if bright colors, childhood memories and wild life flood me with terrible thoughts? 'Scute stuff, tho.
posted by DenOfSizer at 3:26 AM on February 12

Those made me happy.

(and reminded me a bit of Louis Wain cats)
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:54 AM on February 12

Thanks, hadjiboy!

And I can totally see the Louis Wain comparison, with all the energy radiating out of his work.
posted by not_on_display at 5:44 AM on February 12

Shades of Mary Blair, the conceptual genius behind "It's A Small World..."
(Why not steal from the best?)
Nice find!
posted by Dizzy at 5:55 AM on February 12

I was thinking Mary Blair too.
posted by Raoul de Noget at 6:41 AM on February 12

These make awesome desktop backgrounds. With your icons floating over all the repeating forms, your visual cortex overloads and you don't know whether to laugh or scream.
posted by sidereal at 7:04 AM on February 12

horror vacui
posted by subtle_squid at 7:42 AM on February 12

I like his stuff, but I'd also like to see him redo Guernica.
posted by Citizen Premier at 8:18 AM on February 12

Great stuff, I'd love to see this artist take up animation.

He loses me here though:

I that before anything art should bring happiness to the viewer . Life has a lot of misery in it , so it is the artist duty to make people happy.

Total horseshit, there are myriad artists who put the lie to this statement.
posted by Scoo at 9:52 AM on February 12

Yeah, like Bob Ross with his goddamn happy little trees and fan brush and fucking freindly sunshine and those secret little bushes in the corner. Bastards!
...Man, I gotta go calm down
posted by HVAC Guerilla at 11:50 AM on February 12

I like Bob Ross just fine, but this guy's concept of the artists "duty" is absurd. It excludes Francis Bacon, Joel-Peter Witkin, Hans Bellmer, Picasso, R.Crumb, John Waters. Well, those guys make ME happy, but not in the sense he's talking about.
posted by Scoo at 1:42 PM on February 12

Please friends-- let's leave Bob Ross out of this.
Please.
posted by Dizzy at 3:11 PM on February 12

I see "bold" and "italics" but no "facetious" text selection. Ah, there it is.
I like Bob Ross too. It just seemed a comical juxtaposition of Fattal's statement and Schoo's argument. I agree the assertion that all artists must create optimistic works is a bit of a stretch. And I agree Scoo that one can be made happy by an artist without irrational exuberance being the focus, not that a little optimism is wrong from time to time. I've had my nose rubbed in how little my opinion matters given my poor understanding of art, so let's just call the comment what it is, a joke, and leave it at that.
posted by HVAC Guerilla at 7:36 PM on February 12