About the artist:

Regarded as one of the first among modern Arab artists to become interested in the aesthetics of Arabic calligraphy as a contemporary creative art form, Mohammad Sami Burhan was born in Syria in 1929. He began studying Arabic calligraphy at age 13 and later studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and for the past 20 years has lived in Formello, Rome. After teaching at the Teachers' Training College of Aleppo in Syria, Mr. Burhan moved to Italy, where he obtained a degree in painting and sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and later, a degree from the Institute of Coin and Medal Design. He has also taught the aesthetics of Arabic calligraphy at the Institute of Islamic Studies in Rome. Mr. Burhan has staged more than 50 private exhib itions of his work in Austria, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Syria, and the United States. Many of his works are on exhibition in various museums, public and private institutions, palaces and homes of prominent personalities and intelligentsia around the world. Mohammad Sami Burhan's exquisite calligraphy, which reads, in Arabic, "Yes To Life, No To Drugs," is a lithograph in bold blue tones, brilliantly enhanced with silk-screened gold hues, against a red and white patterned background of calligraphic lines.