Khawam’s recent work was influenced by today’s socio-political issues such as chaos, displacement, war and immigration, and premised on the idea that challenges our vision of Syria’s urban scenes in its wartorn cities and structured through our own varying positions. The use of expressive brush strokes weaves together images of geometric and organic shapes, some are abstract and others are recognized objects scattered across the canvas with hints of the architecture that suggest chaos and hope in an urban scene which intensify our experience.
Khawam’s primary focus is of his birthplace – the city of Aleppo with urban scenes of collapsed apartment floors, fallen balconies, curved rooftops, debris and punched holes in building facades. The painting series reveal haunting and disturbing scenes and intentionally was painted with a palette of joyful color fields and shapes that emerge from the canvas with a vigorous life-force. A fantastical place of fear, desire, refuge, conquest and decay, the Syrian conflict has played an increasingly important role in creating a subject matter with a unique style that connect people through art. His interest in portraying the socio-political issues of the multi-cultural and social disturbances is well presented and has an aesthetic sense of the sublime.
Tony Khawam was born in Aleppo, Syria and immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1977. He is a graduate from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and now lives and works in Florida. He is deeply rooted in his Middle Eastern heritage and the American experience through history, current events, and the surrounding urban landscape with influences of post-war German and American art. His urban architecture and heritage paintings are formed by ideas about today’s socio-cultural issues such as social disruption, displacement, and immigration, intertwined with the American culture.
Khawam has been exhibited nationally in galleries and museums and a recipient of recent awards including the “Individual Artist Award, Specific Cultural Project”, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs (2021); the “Creative Investment Program Award” Broward County Cultural Division, FL (2020). He has been a participant in numerous workshops including “Artists at the Community Development Table” Americans For the Arts (2019); and the “Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute” Broward County Division of Culture, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2019).
Khawam’s work is included in museums, private and public collections throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and the Middle East. He has given “Artist talk” and participated as a panelist at several art institutions. He recently curated exhibits about cross-cultural experiences in art, and he’s the author of “Emerging Art from War-Torn Syria: War & Hope” and “Crossing borders: Artists From The Middle East & America” touring art exhibit projects.
Khawam has been interviewed by and published in Boca Raton Magazine; Miami Shoutout Magazine; WLRN Public Media, Miami PBS-NPR; Palm Beach Illustrated; Aventura Magazine; Lifestyle Media Group, South Florida; News Break Michigan (9/2020); Brooklyn reporter News (10/2019); Artrepreneur Media (9/2019); Voyage Miami Magazine (1/2018); NJ Savy Living magazine, NJ (5/2000); The New York Times, NY (7/1998), and many more.
Education
1985 – Bachelor of Fine Art, The School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
1987 – Advanced studies in Advertising and Graphic Design, Montclair State University, NJ
Awards and Grants
2021 – “Individual Artist Award, Specific Cultural Project”, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs
2020 – “Creative Investment Program Award” Broward County Cultural Division, FL
2002 – “Artists Fellowship award” Mid-Atlantic region
1998 – “Innovative Works on Paper and Printmaking Project” Rutgers University, NJ
1997 – “Artist in Residence, NJ Series” Geraldine Dodge Foundation.
Collections
Khawam’s work are in museums, corporate and private collections in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.
Selected One-Person Exhibitions
2020 – ArtServe, Miami, FL
2019 – Art Miami Context Art Fair Dec 4-8, Khawam Gallery, Miami, FL
2019 – Art Palm Beach Art Fair Jan 17-21, Palm Beach Convention Center, West Palm Beach, FL
2018 – Design Center of the Americas, interior designers special event exhibition, Ft Lauderdale, FL
2017 – “Florida International Trade and Cultural Expo” Ft Lauderdale/Broward Convention Center, FL
2018 – Artexpo New York Art Fair, April 19-22, NYC Pier 94
2018 – Art Palm Beach Art Fair Jan 17-21, Palm Beach Convention Center, West Palm Beach, FL
2017 – Miami Art Week at Red Dot Art Fair Dec 6-10, 2017, Miami, FL
2017 – “Spiritual Vessels” Bailey Contemporary Arts, Pompano Beach, Ft Lauderdale, FL
2017 – “Florida International Trade and Cultural Expo” Ft Lauderdale/Broward Convention Center, FL
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 – “The American Road Trip” curated by Imtiaz Hafiz of Art in Embassies, US Dept of State, Washington, DC.
2021 – “Crossing Borders: Artists from the Middle East & Latin America” Kendall Art Center, Miami, FL
2020 – “Emerging Art From War-Torn Syria: War & Hope” Syrian-American artists group exhibit ArtServe, FL
2019 – Oct 12 – Dec 30 “30th Anniversary Season Preview at ArtServe, Miami, FL
Oct 9-10 at Florida International Trade & Cultural Expo, Ft Lauderdale Convention Center
Sept 27-29, Syrian Arts & Culture Center, 352, 86th St. Brooklyn, NY
2019 – “Culturally Diverse” diversity in South Florida, Bailey Contemporary Arts, Pompano Beach, Ft Lauderdale, FL
2018 – “Interior designers gala” Design Center of the Americas, Ft Lauderdale, FL
2017 – “Truth and Reconciliation” Little Haiti Cultural Complex Gallery, Miami, FL
2017 – “Art Boca Raton” Int’l Pavilion of the Palm Beaches at Florida Atlantic University, FL
Selected Artist Workshops
2020 – “Artists at the Community Development Table” Americans For the Arts, Miami, FL
2019 – “Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute” Broward County Cultural Division, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Selected Bibliography/Press
Boca Raton Magazine, BocaMag.com: https://bit.ly/2Rb7PE3 – by John Thomason, 9/2020
Shoutout Miami Magazine: https://bit.ly/3dzLyu2 – by Emma Jacobs, 10/2020
The Brooklyn Reporter, https://bit.ly/3iC0yZo – by John Alexander, 10/2019
Tony Khawam was born in Aleppo, Syria and immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1977. He is a graduate from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and now lives and works in Florida. He is deeply rooted in his Middle Eastern heritage and the American experience through history, current events, and the surrounding urban landscape with influences of post-war German and American art. His urban architecture and heritage paintings are formed by ideas about today’s socio-cultural issues such as social disruption, displacement, and immigration, intertwined with the American culture.
Khawam has been exhibited nationally in galleries and museums and a recipient of recent awards including the “Individual Artist Award, Specific Cultural Project”, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs (2021); the “Creative Investment Program Award” Broward County Cultural Division, FL (2020). He has been a participant in numerous workshops including “Artists at the Community Development Table” Americans For the Arts (2019); and the “Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute” Broward County Division of Culture, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2019).
Khawam’s work is included in museums, private and public collections throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and the Middle East. He has given “Artist talk” and participated as a panelist at several art institutions. He recently curated exhibits about cross-cultural experiences in art, and he’s the author of “Emerging Art from War-Torn Syria: War & Hope” and “Crossing borders: Artists From The Middle East & America” touring art exhibit projects.
Khawam has been interviewed by and published in Boca Raton Magazine; Miami Shoutout Magazine; WLRN Public Media, Miami PBS-NPR; Palm Beach Illustrated; Aventura Magazine; Lifestyle Media Group, South Florida; News Break Michigan (9/2020); Brooklyn reporter News (10/2019); Artrepreneur Media (9/2019); Voyage Miami Magazine (1/2018); NJ Savy Living magazine, NJ (5/2000); The New York Times, NY (7/1998), and many more.
Tony Khawam was born in Aleppo, Syria and immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1977. He is a graduate from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and now lives and works in Florida. He is deeply rooted in his Middle Eastern heritage and the American experience through history, current events, and the surrounding urban landscape with influences of post-war German and American art. His urban architecture and heritage paintings are formed by ideas about today’s socio-cultural issues such as social disruption, displacement, and immigration, intertwined with the American culture.
Khawam has been exhibited nationally in galleries and museums and a recipient of recent awards including the “Individual Artist Award, Specific Cultural Project”, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs (2021); the “Creative Investment Program Award” Broward County Cultural Division, FL (2020). He has been a participant in numerous workshops including “Artists at the Community Development Table” Americans For the Arts (2019); and the “Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute” Broward County Division of Culture, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2019).
Khawam’s work is included in museums, private and public collections throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and the Middle East. He has given “Artist talk” and participated as a panelist at several art institutions. He recently curated exhibits about cross-cultural experiences in art, and he’s the author of “Emerging Art from War-Torn Syria: War & Hope” and “Crossing borders: Artists From The Middle East & America” touring art exhibit projects.
Khawam has been interviewed by and published in Boca Raton Magazine; Miami Shoutout Magazine; WLRN Public Media, Miami PBS-NPR; Palm Beach Illustrated; Aventura Magazine; Lifestyle Media Group, South Florida; News Break Michigan (9/2020); Brooklyn reporter News (10/2019); Artrepreneur Media (9/2019); Voyage Miami Magazine (1/2018); NJ Savy Living magazine, NJ (5/2000); The New York Times, NY (7/1998), and many more.
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