Biography  Of  Lukman  Ahmad

Through expressionism and imagination, Lukman presents the spectrum of a human experience, and invites the viewer to know another culture. From a brush, music, dance, laughter, suffering, compassion, and passion, incite the viewer’s eye to experience from a story of a people – a people forgotten and without a nation, yet a people that has retained a rich and full culture.

Syrian born, Lukman reflects the Kurdish experience as well as the human experience. Self-educated, and deeply in touch with his people and with the intertwined surrounding cultures, he expresses imagination and experiences with authenticity, allowing color and movement to tell the story, be it one of pain or of happiness, of contemplation or passion. He combines symbolism and imagination, color and rhythm, to transport the viewer into the world he lived and the emotions he witnessed.

With over 45 exhibits in various countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan, Switzerland, Lebanon and the United states, he strives to deliver that spectrum of life. Galleries and exhibits have ranged from solo exhibits such as in Washington, D.C. with the Foundary Gallery (2012), the Voice of America building (2015), and the Jerusalem Fund Gallery (2013); and group exhibits such as the West Branch Gallery and Sculpture Park in Stowe, Vermont (2016), Artomatic in Maryland (2012, 2015, and 2016), the Ackland Art Museum with the University of North Carolina (2011), and the workhouse Art Center in Virginia (2014), The Jerusalem gallery, Washington DC (2013-2019) and Artfactory, VA (2022)

Lukman’s work is art with purpose.  With each exhibit, he maintains sight of art’s value and its role in the human experience.  His work reflects that value as a path to understanding oneself and one’s environment, and as a method to show the Kurdish experience and to remove conflict and suffering.  Purpose, value, and vision, through symbolism, expressionism, and color.

Throughhis experience, which began to change after the outbreak of the civil war inSyria, especially in the struggle against terrorism in his Kurdish region inthe northeast of Syria, he is trying to highlight the human rights violationsduring the wars. Along with his colorful paintings and expressive emotion, theblack color also offers the tragedy of death and hope together in his currentpaintings.

Hisexperience depends not only on the aesthetic aspect, but also on its culturaldimension and how to use cultural and cognitive tools to make art a positiveapproach to a civil culture based on human values ​​of respect and acceptanceof the other in addition to the aesthetic sophistication of the artistic work.

He is working with VOA since 2014 –Kurdish service

Exhibitions :

GroupExhibitions:

·        Jaala Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan,2023

·        ARTfactory Gallery, Manassas, AV, 2023

·        Busboys and Poets, Columbia, Maryland,2021

·        The Jerusalem Gallery, Washington DC, 2019

·        Cosmo - Bernama Kurdi, Koln, Germany,2018

·        Ameriprise Financial- With Amr Mounib,Virginia, 2017

·        Syrian Event – Syrian Culture –Washington DC,2017

·        Voice of America 75thanniversary (Live painting) – Washington DC,2017

·        American Arabesque -City of Alexandria,Virginia, 2016

·        Artomatic, Maryland ,2016

·        The Center Gallery of UnitarianUniversalist Church, Virginia, 2016

·        Alwan Foundation, New York, 2016

·        The Jerusalem Gallery, Washington DC, 2016

·        Art in Exile, Vermont 2016

·        Art in Exile, Washington DC, 2015

·        Artomatic, Maryland, 2015

·        The Jerusalem Fund Gallery, WashingtonDC, 2014

·        Workhouse, Art Center, Lorton,Virginia, 2014

·        Arab-American Day -Ronald ReaganBuilding & International Trade Center –Washington DC, 2013

·        Workhouse, Art Center, Lorton, Virginia,2013

·        Iraqi Culture Center, Washington DC,2013

·        Fourth Annual Kurdish Youth Festival, California,2013

·        Kurdish Art Festival in Nashville,Tennessee ,2012

·        Artomatic, Art Festival- Crystal City,Virginia, 2012

·        Fond Del Sol, Visual Arts Center, WashingtonDC, 2012

·        Arlington Arts Gallery, Virginia 2012

·        Third Annual Kurdish Youth Festival,Washington, DC, 2012

·        The Jerusalem Art Gallery, WashingtonDC, 2011

·         “The Iraq beyond Conflict” workshop, NorthCarolina, UNC, 2011

·        Ackland Art Museum, NorthCarolina, UNC, 2011

·        The Art league, Alexandria, Virginia,2010-2011

·        Kurdish Art Festival, George MasonUniversity, Washington DC, 2010

·        A Show of Hands (Locally Made Craftand Artwork) , Alexandria, Virginia, 2010

·        Badrakhan's 7th Kurdish Festival,Washington DC, 2010

·        Modern Art Center in Hasakah, Syria, 2010

·        The Culture Center, Afrin, Aleppo,Syria ,2005

·        Zentrum 5 Gallery, Bern, Switzerland,2004

·        Khan Al-harir Festival, Aleppo, Syria(2003, 2004)

·        Taha Al-Taha Museum, Ar-Raqqa, Syria(2003, 2004, 2005)

·        The Russian Culture Center, Damascus,Syria, 2003

·        The Culture Center, Bshanneen, Hama, Syria,2003

·        The Culture Center, Masyaf, Hama,Syria, 2003

·        The Cultural Center, Afrin, Aleppo,Syria, 2003

·        Khanji Art Gallery , Aleppo, Syria,2002

·        Al-Sharq Gallery, an exhibitionhonoring Abdul Rahman Al-Duraie, Aleppo, Syria, 2001

·        Ebla Art Gallery, Aleppo, Syria (2001,2002, 2003, 2006)

·        Feyrouz Shamoun’s Art Gallery, Zahle,Lebanon (1999, 2000, 2001)

·        The Cultural Center, Hasaka, Syria1999

·        Kurdish Art and Culture Festival,Qamishli, Hasaka, Syria 1998

 Solo Exhibitions:

·        N+A  Art Gallery, Great Falls, VA, 2023

·        ARTfactory Gallery, Manassas. AV, 2023

·        Goodwin Living Bailey’s Crossroads ArtGallery, Falls Church, VA, 2023

·        Manassas Park Community center, VA, 2022

·        ARTfactory Gallery, Manassas, AV, 2022

·        Busboys and Poets, Columbia, Maryland,2021

·        The Jerusalem Gallery, Washington, DC,2019

·        Lappop Art Gallery, Washington DC, 2019

·        Scandinavia House, New York, 2018

·        The Jerusalem Art Gallery, WashingtonDC, 2018

·        Syra Art Gallery, Washington DC, 2017

·        Voice of America, Washington DC, 2017

·        Art Gallery of Unitarian UniversalistChurch of Arlington, Virginia 2015

·        Voice of America, Washington DC, 2015

·        Goodwin Living Bailey’s Crossroads ArtGallery, Falls Church, VA, 2014

·        Workhouse, Art Center, Lorton,Virginia 2013

·        Margaret W.& Joseph L. Fisher ArtGallery, Virginia, 2013

·        The Jerusalem Art Gallery, WashingtonDC, 2013

·        Foundry Gallery, Washington D.C. 2012

·        Hilton Alexandria Mark Center,Virginia, 2011

·        Hasan-Keif Festival, Batman, Turkey2009

·        Yilmaz Gunay Cinema Gallery, Batman,Turkey, 2008

·        D.S.M Gallery, Diyarbakir, Turkey, 2007

·        Hasan-Keif Festival, Batman, Turkey,2007

·        Ebla Art Gallery, Aleppo, Syria, 2006

·        The Cultural Center, Qamishli, Hasaka,Syria, 2006

·        The Cultural Center, Ras Al-Ain,Hasaka, Syria, 2005

·        The Cultural Center, Hasakah, Syria 2004


Stories Behind Arts 

Artist Statement

It has been proven in our contemporary life as human beingsthat art is the most powerful tool for human communication and resolvingethnic, religious, and social differences produced by politics and war.

That is why my belief in artistic work increases every dayas a basic human task in my daily life, to communicate with others andcontribute to intellectual and emotional rapprochement in the society in whichI live.

I, as a Kurdish-American artist, was born in Syria (whichhas become a bloody conflict zone). My artistic mission is no longer limited tomy individual activity in producing art only for personal art exhibitions andindividual benefit. Rather, it began with a contribution and initiative to makeart part of collective awareness and participation with others. Art is thebridge that connects us to each other. We, as humans, need it today more thanever.

I am closely connected to my cultural background as aKurdish-Syrian and Middle Easterner, and I interact positively with my cultureand the new American society that adopted me. Therefore, I must be faithful tothese connections and link these two different worlds together in my art andartistic experience.

I am deeply in touch withmy heritage, and with the intertwined surrounding cultures around whichI lived.  My paintings aim to expressmy experiences with authenticity and imagination, and to allow color andmovement to tell the stories I witnessed, whether it was one of pain or ofhappiness, of contemplation or passion.  My work transports theviewer through color, rhythm, and symbolism, into the world I lived andthe emotions I felt.

My homage and deep sense of belonging toKurdish land is emphatically portrayed in my painting style - a swinginggraceful dancer painted in colorful fluid shapes alongside a galloping horse;contrasted with a heaviness of a grief-stricken woman recently widowed, cloakedin black, and fronting desert sands where her loved ones rest.



Copyright © All rights reserved.
Using Format