He obtained his Ph.D. in Architecture and still remained faithful to his first love: Art, so he went on as an architect and a painter.

During his artistic career he had up to one hundred personal and group exhibitions in Jordan, Arab and worldwide countries, and also won many prizes.

Concerning his rituals in art we had this conversation:

0. Can you introduce us to your artistic experience?

My artistic experience started half a century ago, in 1949 in Iraq, where art classes were given a lot of importance. Every school had its own studio for amateurs under the supervision of specialized teachers, and we used to participate in annual exhibitions. The first exhibition contained sixty-three paintings and was held at the Ma’mouniyeh school in 1956. It took place with the assistance of the late professor Hamed Al-Buderi who I am very grateful to, he taught us and made available all the possibilities for doing an exhibition, and which was admired by professor Haider Halawa from the Ministry of Education at that time. My presence was proven among the Arab artists in 1958 in Kuwait during an exhibition for the conference of Arab writers, where I obtained a scholarship to study in Italy. I stayed in Italy for ten years during which I won numerous prizes and entered the encyclopedia of Italian artists in 1970. In 1971 I co-founded the Academy of Fine Arts along with Muhanna Durrah. Then in 1977 I started working in the Department of Architecture-Faculty of Engineering at the University of Jordan. I continued to do personal and group exhibitions, which overlapped one hundred exhibitions in many different capitals in Arab and world countries.

1. How do you describe the rituals of painting?

Before attempting anything I have to be in a certain psychological condition in which I feel an immense need to give beyond my limits and I feel a tremendous need to paint, so I accept the tools and indulge into the colors. The painting emerges in a grand emotion that comes out from the depth of the soul and the personality, which reacts with the shapes, lines and colorful surfaces. I feel as if the painting has been previously drawn, as if my role is to sweep away the dust from the surface only to produce a portrayed mirror filled with life that makes the viewer admire it. I feel as if I am in a prayer, achieving a job that is sacred and respectable. I am in a state where I go deep in life to the extent where I do not realize what is going on around me and with me. In many cases I notice that my paintings talk about the future, where the present and future combine in the past and I become involved heart and soul. At that point I do not care about food or drink, I only feel a sensation in every part of my body and brain when I discover that the painting is hidden in the folds of the unknown in color and in shape.

2. What is the relationship between Architecture and Art?

Architecture is the highest place in Art because it is a combination of sculpture, drawing and colors. The architect is the artist who plays the music of the colored shape that is embodied in the people.

Architecture searches for the shape, a shape that does not resemble anything else. School, home and mosque all have their architectural shapes standing alone like a tree, sun or moon. So every architect inside is a sculptor, a painter, a drawer, a thinker, a philosopher, a planner, an organizer and an economist. And if he does not realize that, he should. I do not think I am exaggerating if I say that architecture is art and that art is architecture.

3. What does Dr. Ali El-Ghul now read?