The Kurdish painter Faisal Osman was born in Hawler. He’s an active teacher of art in the city. He’s been carrying out art activities among people and the KRG institutions since the eighties. He’s been a teacher of painting in the Institute of Fine Arts in Hawler since 1992; he was actually one of the founders of the Institute.
He has had many art exhibitions in the cities of Hawler, Suleimani, Kirkuk, Duhok and abroad. His style is recognizable among artists and intellectuals of Kurdistan. Rain is an example of a live form in his art works, especially the drawings that portray daily life. It’s a continuous project of Faisal Osman.
His forms have changed over the time. He first started as an academic artist. He painted portraits and still-lives and then he stepped towards nature. His profound move into nature wasn’t just academic, but also he showed the image of Kurdistan as folklore and cultural source of this country. The image of streets, quarters, rain, flowers, gardens, folklore and the Hawler citadel are live examples of his themes.
As far as materials concerned, his first work started with water colors, then drawing, and later towards oil colors which he started with large measures of 2 and 3 meters. Moving towards acrylic was another example of his work, especially in ‘flowers’ which were a series of works shown in Kurdistan and Europe especially with artists in Europe and Netherlands that was arranged by Mordayk Culture Assembly. Water-color works became his new project once again, especially during his visits to Romania, Bulgaria and France. He produced many works during these visits. Social topics, sufferings of Kurdistan are parts of the tragedy of his drawings that he has always worked in a style of expressionism.
Every artist is influenced by some local or international person as if they introduce themselves as students of the older artist. Osman was influenced by the deceased artist Mohammad Arif, especially in drawing villages of Kurdistan, Kurdish dance, life in the villages of Kurdistan and mountains; these are live examples for Kurdish identity which Faisal Osman successfully portrays.
By: Ashti Garmiyani
