Biography

Ghass was 15 years old when the revolution began. As for all young men at the time, war was unavoidable and he spent two years on the front line. One year later he decided to leave for Paris, where he hoped to exorcise the images of war that had pervaded so much of his early life. He never went back. That was in 1989. Feelings of sadness and the memories of blood and violence lingered, but Ghass sought to take control of his dark past and transform those experiences into something therapeutic for himself and the general public. Painting became his primary mode of self-expression. For nineteen years, he limited his palette to three distinct colors: red to reflect the sky after a bombing, black in memory of burnt landscapes, and white as a traditional symbol of peace and innocence. In 2010, after the death of his parents, Ghass decided to introduce a fourth color, yellow, to his paintings. The new color came to represent a type of rebirth, a “hymn to life and hope.” Today Ghass has introduced blue to bring the breath of fresh air the world sorely needs during these tumultuous times. Ghass’ paintings are abstract but orderly. From a stylistic point of view, his work is at the intersection of Pollock and Kandinsky. His geometric shapes are often free and playful. Using drops of paint and scribbled numbers, his work can easily shift between strict forms and their wild unmasking. His work is often a synthesis of order and chaos, an aesthetic fusion that works despite its innate incongruity. Over time, his psychological portraits of warfare that he faced were replaced by windows into life that were all together just as impressive. The old scars have not completely healed, but they no longer dominate. Today, hope triumphs.