Acrylic

Invented mid-20th century and gaining popularity from the 1960s onward, acrylic offered a faster-drying, more flexible alternative to oil. The medium's water-soluble nature, durability, and ability to be worked in thin washes or thick impasto layers made it ideal for the larger scale and bolder color fields that characterized contemporary Arab painting from the 1970s forward. Contemporary practitioners — including Dia Azzawi and the generation that came of age in the 1980s — embraced acrylic's modernity. Today, acrylic remains the working medium of choice for many living Arab artists, prized for its versatility and the freedom it gives to layered, gestural composition.