Marwan Qassab Bashi

Marwan is a Syrian artist who lives in Germany and is a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Berlin (HDK).

My first introduction to Marwan's paintings was sometime in the early nineties (93, 94?), when I saw some of his paintings at the Institute Du Monde Arabe in Paris, and they left quite an effect on me.

I first met Marwan in the Summer of 2000, when I took part in the first Summer Academy Workshop which he was teaching at Darat Al Funun in Amman.I would later take part in another workshop that he was teaching.

He was one of three mentors that I had in my adult life (the other 2 were business people, not artists; Messers Ton Swarttouw and André Rapati of the Netherlands).

If you thought my art looks German then doubtlessly Marwan's contributed to this. I say 'contributed' because, in fact, my art always had a German influence before I met Marwan.

This page is a tribute to a great artist who taught me a great deal and believed in my talent.

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