Hammoud Chantout was born on one cold day in January, 1956 in a mud-hut with a dome (in Al-Sfera village east of Aleppo). He was the fourth child for his father Khaled, after a son and two daughters. His father was a traveling upholsterer who after discovering that village, settled in it. He also worked as a wheat miller (it was his forefathers profession - one of them, Faris was a stone cutter for water mills) and designed a hand-mill.
Hammoud's house was just like all houses in the village. The house was later extended due to the increasing family. He recalls those days as being simple, pleasant and full of love and he remembers playing on straw bails during the harvest seasons, in wide open spaces. He recalled this memory after seeing the works of Fateh Muddares and the paintings of Hasko. Similar houses and spaces appeared in his early paintings.
The still growing family later went back to Hama and settled in a room of his grandfather's house which was also shared by his two uncle's families (the house no longer exists). His father continued working in upholstery, fishing on the Orontes River and going to the village occasionally. His mother Masaa (whose family was originally Christian, her father becoming a Moslem after being left by his father-who immigrated to Brazil). She worked in a carpet workshop within the same house.
The boy who got used to the open fields of the village always ran out of that crowded house to play on Orontes bank. That was when he began his tuition, moving between a few elementary schools. However, he didn't like school and often didn't used to go, so his mother suggested that he should quit school to help his father by working, because of their family's hard financial situation (they were 13 people). So he helped him fishing, worked in a carpenter's workshop, then in a mill and at last as a house painter (which he liked a little bit.) Then someone advised his father to send him back to school, so he went back and studied harder than before to improve his marks. In the 7th grade of his primary school was the moment of truth for him, because he discovered his artistic talent while practicing drawing and painting for the first time. |
1975 - Graduated from «Suhail Al-Ahdab Art Center», Hama,Syria.
-1st prize of Syria Art Centers.
1977 - Solo exhibition, Arabic Cultural Center, Damascus.
1984 - Graduated from Beaux Arts
1985 - Solo exhibition, Al-Shaab Gallery, Damascus.
- Solo exhibition, Art Center, Hama.
- Solo exhibition, Ebla Gallery, Aleppo.
1986 - Solo exhibition, Ebla Gallery, Damascus.
1987 - Solo exhibition, Ornina Gallery, Damascus.
- Solo exhibition, Omayya Gallery, Aleppo.
1988 - Solo exhibition, Ornina Gallery, Damascus
- Solo exhibition, Omayya Gallery, Aleppo.
1989 - Solo exhibition, French Cultural Center, Damascus.
- Solo exhibition, Bilad Al-Sham Gallery, Aleppo.
1990 - Solo exhibition, Atasi Gallery, Homs.
- Solo exhibition, Ornina Gallery, Damascus.
1991 - Solo exhibition, Bilad Al-Sham Gallery, Aleppo.
- Solo exhibition, Al-Sayed Gallery, Damascus.
1992 - Solo exhibition, Ornina Gallery, Damascus.
1993 - Solo exhibition, Stations des Arts, Beirut, Lebanon.
- Solo exhibition, Bilad Al-Sham Gallery, Aleppo.
- Solo exhibition, Baladna Gallery, Amman, Jordan.
- Nominated by Ministry of Culture for the UNESCO award.
1994 - Solo exhibition, Ornina Gallery, Damascus.
1995 - Solo exhibition, Ruwaq Albalkaa Gallery, Jordan.
1996 - Solo exhibition, Stations des Arts, Beirut, Lebanon.
1997 - Solo exhibition, Ornina Gallery, Damascus.
1998 - Solo exhibition, Nasir Shura Gallery, Damascus.
1999 - Solo exhibition, Ornina Gallery, Damascus.
- Winning gold medal of Lattakia Binaly.
- Workshop with (ECOM) artists of Mediterranean.
2000 - Solo exhibition, Bushehri Gallery, Kuwait.
- Collective exhibition with 4 Syrian artists, Washington,USA.
2001 - Solo exhibition, Baladna Gallery, Amman, Jordan.
- Workshop with (ECOM), Tunisia.
- Participating in Sharja Binaly.
- Shared exhibition with the Tunisian artist Ali Zanaidi.
2003 - Solo exhibition, Ornina Gallery, Damascus.
- Workshop with (ECOM), Amman, Jordan.
2005 - Solo exhibition, Art Form Gallery, Montreal, Canada.
- Solo exhibition, Kalimat Gallery, Aleppo.
2007 - Solo exhibition, Ruwa Art Center, Amman, Jordan.
- Solo exhibition, Art House Gallery, Damascus.
2008
- Chosen by general assembly of Damascus Capitol of Arab Culture as one of the representative of 3rd generation of Syrian plastic artists to participate in collective exhibition.
- Three exhibitions organized by Art House: Solo exhibition in Art House Gallery, Damascus
- Collective exhibition for Syrian contemparary art, Qatar - Solo exhibition, Dubai. |
