Lava Ghayas
“Art decorates the soul, not the wall.”
Lava Ghayas, a contemporary Canadian artist (born 1964, Syria), resides in Albania. He holds a Fine Arts/BFA, honors. He works in painting and digital art, using acrylics and oils on canvas. Ghayas is known for his layered compositions, constructed with bold brushstrokes and contemporary colors, revealing an underlying sense of energy and vitality.
His work focuses on landscapes, still lifes, and figures, but he moves beyond direct observation to convey what is felt, not just what is seen. In his paintings, nature and the body become two spheres of a single cosmic vibration. He treats time as fluid space and space as frozen time; thus, trees, bodies, and everyday scenes are fragmented into delicate chromatic crystals, like free vibrations on the surface of a silent world, allowing them to soar between the familiar and the abstract. What he offers is not a picture of what we see, but a map of what vibrates within us.
Brushstrokes often act as visual cues or musical notes, suggesting sound, rhythm, and resonance on the canvas, inviting the viewer to experience the work as a kind of musical score resonating with their own spiritual memory. In this sense, Lava Ghayas’s work underscores his conviction that “art adorns the soul, not walls.” This approach is evident in his ongoing series “Crystal Dialogue,” where familiar themes are transformed into complex fields of visual frequencies.
Lava Ghayas has exhibited his work nationally and internationally, including at City Gallery Vienna, Austria; the 8th Tashkent Biennial of Contemporary Art in Tashkent, Uzbekistan; and the Areej Art Gallery in Toronto, Canada. He has received prestigious awards, including Artist of the Year at the 2025 Belgrade Biennial and several awards in Bold Brush Painting Competitions. His works are held in numerous private collections both nationally and internationally.
Education
- 1985–1990 — Fine Arts, Graphic Design / BFA, honors — Damascus, Syria
Selected Solo Exhibitions
- 2024 — Art Decorates the Soul, Not the Wall — CITYgalleryVIENNA, Vienna, Austria
- 2023 — Painting on Air — Kunstclub für Freiheit, Vienna, Austria
- 2022 — Gestures — Twist Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- 2018 — Crystaline — Areej Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2025 — Sfumato Summer Group Exhibition — Online Exhibition
- 2025 — Belgrade Biennale & Rome–Umbria Auction — Belgrade, Serbia
- 2023 — Publicartists Gallery — Vienna, Austria
- 2019 — ARTUSIASM Art Gallery — Toronto, Canada
- 2019 — Double Door Gallery — Barrie, Canada
- 2019 — “Friendship” International Art Exhibition — India
- 2018 — VIII Tashkent Biennale of Contemporary Art — Tashkent, Uzbekistan
- 2017 — AREEJ Art Gallery — Toronto, Canada
- 2017 — Arts Etobicoke Gallery — Toronto, Canada
- 1990–1997 — Annual Syrian Fine Art Exhibitions — Damascus, Syria
Art Fairs
- 2021 — Outdoor Fair “Artwalk in the Square” — Toronto, Canada
- 2021 — ARTBOX.PROJECT Zürich 3.0 — Zurich, Switzerland
- 2020 — Riverdale Online ArtWalk Show and Sale — Toronto, Canada
- 2019 — ARTBOX.PROJECT Zürich 1.0 — Zurich, Switzerland
- 2019 — Outdoor Fair “Artwalk in the Square” — Toronto, Canada
- 2019 — ARTUSIASM Art Gallery, Online — Toronto, Canada
Collections
- Lava Ghayas features in various national and international private collections.
Awards
- 2025 — Artist of the Year — Belgrade Biennale 2025, Belgrade, Serbia
- 2021 — Outstanding Digital Award — BoldBrush Painting Competition, USA
- 2020 — Outstanding Digital Award — BoldBrush Painting Competition, USA
- 2020 — Engage Art Contest (North America), Finalist
- 2017 — Outstanding Acrylic Award — BoldBrush Painting Competition, USA
Press & Publications
- Probizz.al, Albania — “Arti si vibrim i shpirtit” (Art as a Vibration of the Soul), feature profile, August 2026 — Read article
- Kreatif Magazine, Summer 2026 — View issue
- Contemporary Art Curator Magazine, Spotlight, 2025 — Read article
- CITYgalleryVIENNA — Die Publicartist Profiles 2024 (book)
- Visual Story: Exhibition Catalog — ARTBOX.PROJECT Zürich 1.0, 2019
Professional Contributions
- 2017 — Workshops at Arts Etobicoke Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- 2011–2013 — Animation painting, Poet of the Week program, Qatar TV, Doha, Qatar — Watch video
- 1993–1998 — Lecturer, Damascus University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Syria
- Since 1990 — Graphic designer and illustrator in various institutions and freelance