The Corniche Beirut is a seaside promenade in Beirut, Lebanon. Lined with palm trees, the waterfront has a magnificent view of the Mediterranean and of Mount Lebanon to the east. It’s the perfect place to soak up some sun, people watch, and get some exercise. Today the weather was perfect and the walk was exceptionally beautiful.
How Soon is Now is A Tribute to Dreamers exhibition by Abraaj Capital Art Prize 2012 winners Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige at Beirut Exhibition Center. I enjoyed the depth and the perspective. Definitely check it out if you’re in Beirut.
Le Gray is CampbellGray’s first hotel in the Middle East which opened in 2009. Located in the heart of Beirut in Martyrs’ Square, it showcases 87 stylish rooms and suites artistically designed in collaboration with Fox Linton Associates. Le Grey Hotel houses a wonderful collection of modern art and furniture and is definitely a place to visit if you are in Beirut.
Went to see The “Salon D’Automne” of Sursock Museum at the Beirut Exhibition Center and was so impressed with the caliber of work present at this show. It’s on January 28TH to February 17TH.
Here are some works that caught my attention.
Good friend and very talented young designer Mira Hayek recently launched her fall/winter collection, A Namorada. I’m loving the creativity and vibrant colors.
For more information contact her at hayek.mira@gmail.com
Zena el Khalil is a visual artist, writer and cultural activist; she holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and a Bachelor of Graphic Design from the American University of Beirut. She currently lives in Beirut with her Jack Russell Terrier, Tapi, and she is a big fan of the colors pink, purple and gold.
“It is not portraits that Zena el Khalil creates with her clever, suggestive and realistic brush, but rather archetypes or allegories, modern icons that speak of women’s strength, pride, resistance, solidarity, even perhaps rebelliousness. Zena is fascinated by the place they’ve always held in society. If the visual elements brought together here are contradictory, it is simply because they reflect the contradictions and tensions of the modern era. These contradictions have to remain open like a crack, like a gash. Collecting, cutting-out, drawing, attaching, pinning-up, installing, laying-out and exposing are the various means she uses to give life to her mixed media work. In this space, gaps slip in, gaps that are often worrying, sometimes funny and almost acidic.” – Maya Ghandour Hert 2010
I was in the area and stoppped by Beirut Art Center to check out “The Beirut Experience” exhibition. It’s my first time to see a show at this venue and boy was I surprised. For a moment I was transported.. I could’ve been in New York City or L.A. The graphics are very “Swiss” and clean while the design of the space is industrial and raw.. Not the shiny polished aesthetic I’m accustomed to seeing in Beirut. I loved the warehouse area surrounding the building with walls covered in graffiti. I felt I was in the presence of something very real and definitely worth seeing. Stop by and check out this exhibition!
“The exhibition The Beirut Experience brings together 10 international artists selected for their interest in notions which are essential to the Beirut and Lebanese context, such as architecture, urban planning, memory, history or cultural identity, as well as their capacity to adapt themselves to the very complex but stimulating Lebanese situation.
The subject of the exhibition is precisely Beirut and Lebanon. Every artist produces a new work specifically linked to this context. The title of the show points to the experience of the context, with all the nuances that this word contains. Almost all the artists have stayed at least twice in Beirut, once in November 2010, and then during the installation period, just before the opening of the show. Some went to Beirut to work during the summer of 2011. All works are commissioned and produced by Attitudes (www.attitudes.ch).
A book will be published after the show in three languages: English, French, and Arabic. It will contain an introduction by the curators, documentation of the works, and a long essay by Paris-based German art critic and author Jens Emil Sennewald. ” -via Beirut Art Center
October 13.11 – November 19.11
Lara Almarcegui . Marc Bauer . Tony Chakar . Marcelline Delbecq . Latifa Echakhch . Eric Hattan . Mark Lewis . Adrien Missika . Estefania Peñafiel Loaiza . Dan Perjovschi
Yesterday, Ayyam Gallery Beirut presented “Through The Looking Glass II” an exhibition highlighting the most recent work of Syrian artist Mouteea Murad. Marking the painter’s first solo exhibition in Beirut, this event will showcase a new take on the complex geometric abstractions for which he has become known over the past few years.
“In 2009, Murad began successively labeling his canvases with the word “Trial,” an indication of a continuous path of experimentation. Deeply engaged with the multifarious tradition of Islamic art, he approaches his work with a profound sense of spirituality and an acute understanding of its aesthetic values. Working from this foundation, he proceeds with contemporary experiments, identifying then adding to the modern breakthroughs that defined the formation of abstract art movements throughout the twentieth century. Joining these seemingly disparate schools of art in a single composition, Murad elucidates how the origins of international abstraction lie within the essential principles of Islamic art.
Resulting in new forms and techniques altogether, Murad reconfigures arabesques with constructivist visions and minimalist divisions, juxtaposing order and chaos as illuminated shapes and bold lines define multidimensional space. Utilizing cutting-edge artistic techniques, he explores the core facet of this tradition by creating compositions that suggest a sublime presence in the world around us so that wonder, beauty and complexity are depicted as stemming from the same divine source. ” via Ayyam Gallery
photos via Ayyam Gallery
I’m absolutely in love with this new collection by upcoming fashion designer Dina JSR. I’ve known Dina personally for several years and have watched her experiment with artistic expression through several mediums as she explores the many cities she’s visited and lived in including, London, Paris, and Beirut. The final product is a beautiful collection of cocktail dresses that exude everything that is Dina.. femininity, fun, glamour, style, precision, and poetry. I can’t wait to see the dresses out and about . I’ve already picked out my favorite.. which one is yours?
Below is more about her latest collection ”Lasting Impressions” and to find out more about Dina JSR visit her website.
“Enthralled by architecture ever since she first arrived in London, Dina continues to be inspired by its structure, instilling its lines into every silhouette she creates. Volumes of organza remind one of the long line of columns, which make up the Baalbek historic site. The importance of math for the city of Byblos regulates the recurrent pleats in a strapless dress. The seascape and islands opposite the Lebanese city of Tripoli inspire, bit by bit, the inherent undulation of fabric. Perforated cotton accentuates the sharp lines of an urban and sexy cocktail dress:Beirut nights follow in its trail.
Above all, Dina Jsr excels in mixing fabric and surfaces, allowing them to become alive at one another’s contact. Mercerized stretched cotton and muslin cloud, leaf lace and great lengths of spattered silver lame muslin, rigid pleats of triple organza and evanescent print muslin.
By combining pink fuchsia organza with acid yellow sequins, Dina Jsr plays around with color as if they were semi-precious gems. For her future collections, she imagines already that jewelry will enhance the dress to reveal its personality and structure. Cutting and applique will be done by laser to make them even more precise. Simplicity will be the golden rule to reveal the structure of every piece.”
Saloua Raouda Choucair: The Retrospective features the artist’s major artwork that was produced over the span of seven decades.
She has been described as “a rare bird, hovering above the flock,” a trail blazer whose unique approach has always set her ahead of current trends and fashions. However, the scarcity of her public shows over the decades did not help give her work the exposure and value it deserves beyond a small circle of faithful admirers. This show covers the full spectrum of phases that Saloua Raouda Choucair has gone through during her artistic career.
A huge respect to this beautiful woman and pioneer abstract artist of the Arab world.
RETROSPECTIVE at Beirut Exhibition Center
SEPTEMBER 27TH – NOVEMBER 13TH, 2011
Works by Morrocan Artist Wadia Boutaba
Apr 16, 2013
Huda Lutfi, Explores Roles of Women #Womanartist #Egypt
Apr 9, 2013
Aidan Salakhova Outspoken Series of Drawings “Persian Miniatures”
Jan 28, 2013
#Iraqi #Artist Ayad Alkadhi #Middleeasternart
Jan 16, 2013
Ghadah Alkandari, Kuwaiti Artist and Blogger
Jan 15, 2013
Ahmed Mater #Saudi Contemporary Artist
Jan 14, 2013
Mouna Sehnaoui’s ‘The Orient Within’ Exhibition at Beirut’s Aida Cherfan Gallery
Jan 7, 2013
#My #Khaleejesque #Magazine #Photoshoot and #Article
Dec 7, 2012
Light from the Middle East at The British Museum
Nov 14, 2012
Works From The “Street Art Show ” at Opera Gallery in DIFC
Nov 6, 2012
