{"id":199205,"date":"2018-08-15T07:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T10:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=199205"},"modified":"2019-06-30T16:33:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-30T19:33:10","slug":"syrian-builds-artistic-career-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/syrian-builds-artistic-career-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"A Syrian builds an artistic career in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 Paintings by Ayman Esmandar of Syria are on show at Espa\u00e7o de Arte Francis Bacon in Curitiba, Paran\u00e1 until September 7. The artist has exhibited on several occasions since relocating to Brazil some five years to flee the war that still plagues his native country.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Esmandar portrays nymphs in his paintings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Esmandar brought along his solid training and career, and the will to keep making art and doing academic work in Brazil. The holder of a doctorate degree in Art History, which he used to teach \u2013 in addition to Ancient History \u2013 at Damascus University. He specializes in the Phoenicians, Greeks, Ancient Egyptians and Romans, and most of his paintings feature themes from Greek-Phoenician mythology. The exhibit in Curitiba features portrayals of nymphs.<\/p>\n

Although he has been to Europe many times, Esmandar felt attracted to Brazil, and this led him to choose Rio de Janeiro when the war broke out in Syria. \u201cBrazil has economic and political problems, but the people are always smiling. They enjoy being happy,\u201d he told ANBA.<\/p>\n

While working at a public university, Esmandar began receiving terrorist threats and decided it was time to move to Brazil. He mentions the country\u2019s numerous, mostly Syrian and Lebanese Arab community, and the similarities Brazilians and Arabs share.<\/p>\n

He succeeded in revalidating his doctorate degree in Brazil, and occasionally teaches classes and gives lectures in addition to exhibiting his art. On August 21, he will speak on the Dionysian features of contemporary culture, and on August 23, at school Col\u00e9gio Imaculada Concei\u00e7\u00e3o, in Leopoldina, Minas Gerais he will discuss the historic city of Palmira. Last June, he exhibited his nymph paintings at Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Centro Cultural Light Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Syrian painter depicts history and culture<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Esmandar became proficient in Brazilian Portuguese after studying at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ). He has also taken a course in international cultural tourism. During the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, which Brazil hosted, he worked as a tour guide. Esmandar is currently working to join a postdoctorate course at the UERJ.<\/p>\n

He started making drawings when he was four years old and was known for his art since his school days. When the time came to go to college, he was accepted in various courses, but chose the Fine Arts. His final thesis was on Phoenician Mythologies. For his master\u2019s studies, he did research on Phoenician Symbols, and his doctorate work was on the Artistic Traditions of Phoenician Civilization between 1,500 and 500 BC.<\/p>\n

Nymphs, a recurrent subject in Esmandar\u2019s paintings, are an integral part of Greek mythology, and were worshipped in the Greek world as well as by East Mediterranean Phoenicians. They are minor Ancient Greek goddesses and followers of god Dionisius. \u201cThey are ever-young, they never age. They symbolize fertility and nature,\u201d Esmandar explains, displaying his fascination with the subject and his knowledge of mythology.<\/p>\n

The exhibition in Curitiba features 25 paintings.<\/p>\n

Quick facts
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exhibition \u201cNymphs: the soul of the forest\u201d
\nJuly 24 \u2013 September 7, 2018.
\nEspa\u00e7o de Arte Francis Bacon \u2013 Ordem Rosacruz (AMORC)
\nRua Nicar\u00e1gua, 2620 \u2013 Bacacheri \u2013 82515-260 \u2013 Curitiba, Paran\u00e1
\nFree admission
\nTuesday to Friday, 1:30pm to 5pm
\nEmail: aymanesmandar@gmail.com<\/p>\n

Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Press Release<\/div>\n
Reprodu\u00e7\u00e3o<\/div>\n
Reprodu\u00e7\u00e3o<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former professor in Art History\/Ancient History at Damascus University who moved to Brazil in 2013, Ayman Esmandar is also a fine artist whose work deals with mythology. He will be exhibiting in Curitiba until September 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1455,"featured_media":199190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,3066],"tags":[33120,4128,4396,4407,4403,4406,4405,14870,432,4404],"class_list":{"0":"post-199205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-society","9":"tag-artista-plastico-en","10":"tag-arts","11":"tag-ayman-esmandar","12":"tag-damascus-university","13":"tag-fine-artist","14":"tag-nymphs","15":"tag-phoenician-mythology","16":"tag-sirio-en","17":"tag-syria","18":"tag-syrian-artist"},"wps_subtitle":"A former professor in Art History\/Ancient History at Damascus University who moved to Brazil in 2013, Ayman Esmandar is also a fine artist whose work deals with mythology. He will be exhibiting in Curitiba until September 7.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}