Biography

Krayem Maria Awad (born 1948) is a Vienna-based painter, sculptor and poet of Syrian origin.

He was born in Basir, and later moved to Austria, where he studied from 1968 telecommunications engineering at the Vienna Technical College, and was also enrolled at the Vienna School of Economics.

He also attended the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.

In the 1970-1980s, he received international recognition for his numerous aquarelle work.

In the 1970s he participated in lectures as part of the creative movement "North-South Dialogue". He was a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Treffpunkte", and author of the manifesto "The Position of Women in European Civilization".

In 1977 he joined the art cooperative "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kunst", offering courses in printing graphics and ceramics, and teaching at a summer art school in Vienna.

In the 1990s he worked with video installations, photography and computer graphics.

Since 1994, he has been involved in art-workshops and art courses in Switzerland.

Krayem uses mixed media when painting, mixing sand and ashes with oil-based pigments, and often supplements artwork with his own poetry.

Krayem often creates large format paintings, like the one titled "The whole", which measured 3x10 meters, and was on display at Vienna’s Jugendstiltheater in September 2008.

He is a member of the International Club of visual artists "Art/Diagonal" [1].

Krayem's art work has been shown, as part of one man shows, in many European countries, as well as in Japan, South Africa, and the United States of America. His paintings are in museums and private collections.