Artist Majd Kurdieh’s practice incorporates painting, drawing, and literature using recurring figures that stand to tell a story, usually carrying a strong moral and positive reinforcement that the artist projects into the world.
Kurdieh turned to more childlike paintings in which he incorporates strong literary and story-telling techniques. He paints recurring whimsical characters that seem to narrate a story. Over the past four years, the artist has created a ‘cast of characters’, the two main ones being the Fasaeen (Arabic for ‘tiny ones’). The stories told through the representation of these figures are not specific stories that the artist references but rather ones that could apply to any viewer, leaving room for personal interpretation. The Fasaeen, one boy (Fasoon) and one girl (Fasooneh), always smiling despite the fact their world is filled with hardships, are usually accompanied by other characters.
Majd Kurdieh has been featured in retrospective exhibitions at As-Safir, Beirut (2023) and at Azad Art Gallery, Cairo (2020). Kurdieh has featured in solo and group exhibitions at MADS Gallery, Milan, Italy (2021); Azad Art Gallery, Cairo (2021; 2020); Egypt Art Fair (2023; 2022; 2021; 2020); BBA Gallery, Berlin (2019), DAR Art (2021, 2022); Fann À Porter, Jordan (2021; 2020, 2019); Fann À Porter, Dubai (2022; 2021; 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016), El-Sawy Culture Wheel, Cairo (2019), and Athar Al Farasheh, Aleppo (2011), Sikka Art Fair, Dubai (2018) and Art Bahrain, Manama (2019, 2018). His works are housed in public and private collections in the Middle East and abroad, including HE Dr. Zaki Nusseibeh’s private collection and the Atassi Foundation.
Born in Aleppo, Syria in 1985, Kurdieh lives and works in Amsheet, Lebanon.