Lava Ghayas
“Art decorates the soul, not the wall.”
Lava Ghayas is a Canadian contemporary fine artist born in Syria in 1964, currently based in Albania. He holds a BFA with honors in Fine Arts and Graphic Design from Damascus University (1990) and works in acrylic and oil painting on canvas, as well as digital art. Ghayas is recognized internationally for his layered compositions built from bold brushstrokes and crystalline color fields that evoke energy, vibration, and inner resonance.
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 solo shows at CITYgalleryVIENNA (Austria), Kunstclub für Freiheit (Vienna), and Twist Gallery and Areej Art Gallery in Toronto, Canada. In 2025, he was named Artist of the Year at the Belgrade Biennale, and his work has been featured in Contemporary Art Curator Magazine. His original paintings are held in private collections across Europe, North America, and beyond.
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 — 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
- Original paintings by Lava Ghayas are held in private collections in Canada, Austria, Serbia, Switzerland, Uzbekistan, and internationally.
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
- 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
- 1993–1998 — Lecturer, Damascus University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Syria
- Since 1990 — Graphic designer and illustrator in various institutions and freelance
Frequently Asked Questions
Lava Ghayas is a Canadian contemporary fine artist born in Syria in 1964, currently based in Albania. He holds a BFA with honors from Damascus University (1990) and works in acrylic and oil painting on canvas, as well as digital art. He is known for his crystalline, layered compositions and his ongoing series Crystal Dialogue.
Ghayas works in a contemporary semi-abstract style. His paintings feature bold, layered brushstrokes and vibrant chromatic fields that fragment landscapes, figures, and still lifes into crystalline forms — conveying inner emotion and spiritual resonance rather than direct observation.
He has exhibited internationally at CITYgalleryVIENNA (Vienna, Austria), the 8th Tashkent Biennial of Contemporary Art (Uzbekistan), Twist Gallery and Areej Art Gallery (Toronto, Canada), ARTBOX.PROJECT Zürich (Switzerland), and the Belgrade Biennale 2025 (Serbia), among others.
Yes. Lava Ghayas was named Artist of the Year at the Belgrade Biennale 2025. He has also won Outstanding Digital and Acrylic Awards at the BoldBrush Painting Competition (USA) and was a finalist in the Engage Art Contest (North America, 2020).