L'agenda Culturel features my work on its cover

January 23, 2015

For the 483rd edition of the Agenda Culturel in Beirut, the cover featured a detail of one of my works "the Mental Landscape" that started originally on acid free paper and developed into a three dimensional element that was exhibited in one of the galleries in downtown Beirut late last year.

The featured bio / article about the work and myself.

The three dimensional work centerpiece of the exhibit

For those of you who have missed the event , you can always visit the video on youtube for a quick look at what was exhibited:

Quite a good year 2014 has been ! and lots more to happen in 2015 hoping to make it even better.. !

Interaction photos - Mental Landscapes Opening

September 13, 2014

So the opening night of Mental Landscapes was a success based on your presence and participation, the crowd was fun and the media was all over the place.

Local photographer friend and artist Lyes Restom passed by the gallery and took some awesome snap shots of the visitors gazing at some of the works.

Below is just a sample:

Cal Arts - Assignment #2

March 9, 2014

So for the second optional assignment we were asked to go back into our childhood and move forward from there assembling ten images/films/books/music songs that best capture my current work or interests in art whether as a practitioner, viewer or participant.

As i've been collecting the images throughout the week I realized that they all fell naturally in their place.

So i've decided not to give them the title because for me they were a bit too obvious and I wanted to have a feedback from the people who were checking them out to be able to have a different perception about it ...

So there you go the pictures in chronological order:

Lego - via http://phil-are-go.blogspot.com/2010/06/lego-week-pt-1-space-legos.html — Lego - via http://phil-are-go.blogspot.com/2010/06/lego-week-pt-1-space-legos.html

"The CIty" - via http://www.twintowers-newyork.com/pictures.htm — "The CIty" - via http://www.twintowers-newyork.com/pictures.htm

Its Oh So Quiet - Bjork -  via http://www.sprinklesandbooze.com/wp/tag/90s/ — Its Oh So Quiet - Bjork - via http://www.sprinklesandbooze.com/wp/tag/90s/

Takashi Murakami - via http://www.skullspiration.com/takashi-murakami-skull-art/ — Takashi Murakami - via http://www.skullspiration.com/takashi-murakami-skull-art/

Cal Arts - Assignment #1 - Alison Lapper vs. Venus de Milo

March 2, 2014

So I've recently started my new Cal Arts LIve! Art hitsory course.

And for our first assignment we were asked to choose or make two artworks that describe what we think art should be vs. what we think people think art is.

And having taken a couple of days to think about the assignment, the image of the opening ceremony of the Paralympics in London hit me.

I had read about Marc Quinn, and his sculpture Alison Lapper and how that stirred a couple of reactions from the Vatican when it was displayed in Venice.

It was very obvious that Art for me was about Contemporary values, pushing boundaries of the society and promoting an unseen hidden beauty like the work of Quinn below:

Alison Lapper on diplay at the Trafalgar Square - Marc Quinn

and although this would not be considered as Art for a lot, as I think people have this image of Art that should objectify beauty, and for that I'm choosing Venus de Milo which is an old greek sculpture that was found broken armed.

Venus de Milo - Greek Sculpture - Wikipedia

And ironically as the means of representation are similar and the visual is as well, the fact that we have found a broken sculpture that represents Venus as the symbol of beauty, vs. a modern image that represents what our values should be about and how society should be promoting self-acceptance whether it was this case or any other LGBT example, etc., it still feels that the notion of "beauty" is a matter of conflict and this is where I would stand of what I think art should be vs. how I think ppl perceive it.