Maaloula 1964

Louay Kayyali made this work, Maaloula, with paint, to describe a structure or dwelling, or perhaps many dwellings nestled together. Look closely, and you'll see how the paint is built up, almost like plaster on a wall, thick and textured. There's a real sense of touch to this, a feeling that Kayyali wasn't just depicting a place, but also how it feels to exist there. The subdued palette of grays, whites, and ochres adds to this sense of place, evoking the sun-bleached colors of the Middle East. Notice the dark, almost charcoal-like lines that define the edges of the buildings. They give the whole piece a kind of graphic quality, a tension between the painterly and the drawn. Kayyali's work, with its blending of abstraction and representation, reminds me a little of Giorgio Morandi's still lifes. Both artists found a way to distill the essence of a place, or an object, through a careful attention to color, texture, and form. It's never fixed, always open.