Born in Aleppo, Syria in 1964

A member of the Syrian Fine Arts Union in Damascus, Kleig graduated from Fathi Mohamed Fine Arts Center, Aleppo in 1988.

At four years old, he started painting and discovering the secrets of colors. In his elementary school, his teacher use to call him “the little Picasso”, and because he has never heard of “Picasso” at that time, he thought it was a bad word!

He graduated with a Chemistry degree but he never worked in its domain. Instead, he started painting in Aleppo before moving to Lattakia and then to Beirut in 1995, the city that hold Kleige’s dream and offered him a lot to start with.

Born in Damascus in 1951, Ali Mourabet has lived in Beirut with his family for the greater part of his life. An architect since 1976, he has a long-running passion for designing buildings, and as a professional artist since 1977, a love for depicting scenes from Lebanon, and this is reflected in much of his work.

Regarding both architecture and painting as forms of art, Mourabet is never without a pencil or a paintbrush in his hand and to this day continues to experiment with new processes and techniques, especially in more recent years, having freed up more time to focus on his fine art practice.

The consistent theme running through Mourabet’s captivating paintings is their extremely vibrant color palette. With many of his works presenting simplistic geometric shapes and architectural forms and others depicting everyday life in his immediate surroundings, Mourabet is continuously seeking to explore different styles and techniques, while at the same time remaining faithful to the subjects closest to his heart.

Born in Damascus, Syria in 1987.

Homsi graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts – Department of Painting and Drawing at the Damascus University in 2010. He is a member of the Syrian Plastic Artist’s Union and has participated in several collective exhibitions as well as workshops.

His vibrant canvases burst with energy and his colorful palette and gestural brush strokes allow him to create a style of his own. The seemingly human shapes that characterize his paintings come to life and convey subtle emotions.

Amartey Golding, a talented young artist whose works in charcoal portray a visual account of his emotional development coupled with his vast experiences of people, situations and events that have shaped his life so far.

The expressions of the portraits he draws often come to embody his own contemplations of the time. He is very impulsive with his art and the medium of charcoal has allowed him to quickly and effectively translate his thoughts onto paper. He draws on an extremely large scale, which allows him to immerse himself fully in his work. Amartey believes that any creative expression, be it music, dance, writing, art or anything in between, deteriorates with attempts to describe them in words and can only truly be comprehended first-hand. He therefore embraces every opportunity to share his work with others.

Aram Jughian

Aram Jughian is a Lebanese-Armenian artist born in 1959. He is self taught and has been exhibiting his artwork since 1975.

Artist Statement

I project all my life into my art, paintings or drawings. My emotions, my desires, my frustrations, my family... everything is there... I live in each one of them.

My paintings aren’t just images, they are fruits of nature. Since I live with nature, my painting is a tree …the trunk and branches overlap gradually, plethora of foliage, my soul is the root, a trunk, a branch, working with colors that gradually strike brushstroke after brushstroke. Until the fabric becomes the painting. The painting itself carries all of its growing pains invisible to the naked eye.

These paintings are like the fruits of nature, perfectly ripe, that call to be picked.

Individual exhibitions:

-      Hotel Mzar (Faraya) 1978

-      Rumours Art Gallery 1987, 1991

-      Kulturzentrum 1992

-      Russian Cultural Center 1990

-      Platform Gallery 1991, 1992

-      Galerie Epreuve d’Artiste 1991, 1992, 1993

-      De Mette Gallery (retrospective 25 years) 1994

-      Art et Culture (bad habits) 1995

-      Galerie Janine Rubeiz 1996, 1997, 2002, 2005

-      L’Entretemps 1998

-      L’Espace S.D. 1999, 2000

-      M’ars Museum Art Gallery Moscow 2001

Collective exhibitions (some of them):

Le point, Galerie Chahine, Mouvement Culturel, Galleria, Balloune Public Garden, Sanayeh Public Garden (sculpture), Lebanese American University (LAU) – Abstract painting in Lebanon (exhibition and book), Galleries Alwan, Epreuve d’Artiste, l’Entretemps, Maraya, Portfolio, Anthologie, INSEAT, Centre Culturel Français

(CCF), Lebanon, The Artist’s View II in London 2004, Art sud, Chatelet, Paris, 2004, Gallery One, Dubai, 2000, EAE Gallery, Leiden (Netherlands), 2005, Anne Guillet (Paris), M’ars (Moscow), La Fontaine Bahrein, Al-Sharjah, Qatar, and others.

Other activities:

-      Biennale Al-Sharjah 1997

-      Since 1988 he has been present at the “Salon d’automne” in Sursock Museum

-      Since 1994 he is a member (sociétaire) in the Musée Nicolas Sursock

-      He has realized a large mural (14 x 3 meters) for the Public Work Ministery

-      He has paintings in the Ministery of Culture

-      He has a painting in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow

-      Gallery One Dubai (opening) 2004

-      Qatar with the collaboration of the Ministery of Culture 2010

-      Gallery Sultan in Kuweit City 2006, 2007

-      He has paintings in Sursock Museum in Beirut, permanent exhibition

-      He has paintings in Galerie Janine Rbeiz and Galerie Ajial (both in Beirut) 2007

-      Paintings in museums and private collections in London, Los Angeles, and Jakarta, Indonesia

-      Washington, Moscow, Cologne, Rotterdam, Paris, Leiden, Jakarta

Aziza Bahri is born in Damascus Syria.

She is a modern abstract artist with innovative style whereby she pursued the marriage of Arabic calligraphy with various shapes of arts in assorted colours and characteristic little touches. Her style is distinctive and partially spiritual that has been well received in the art world. Her specialty is the famous Diwani script developed during the 16th century in the Ottoman era inspired by nature and oceans.

Equally so, her paintings inspire cheerfulness and happiness.

A Lebanese artist, Abo Zour was born in Tannoura in the Bekaa, and raised in Chouf, spending much of her life on a remote farm in the mountains.

In her unusual work, Abou Zour breaks down her world into pieces and reconstructs it in a way that reflects its inescapable truths. She does so using her own tools and with more than a hint of dark humor.

Born in 1971, Byblos, Lebanon.

Bassam Kyrillos is a Lebanese sculptor living and working in Byblos, Lebanon. His body of work spans both the monumental and the figurative, showing mastery in several media including traditional bronze techniques and the incorporation of industrial materials.

His recent works explores the narratives of place through cycles of destruction and regeneration. Inhabiting the border zones between devastation and renewal, Bassam Kyrillos creates sculptures of an alternate urbanity; a place bearing witness to its history and simultaneously regenerating itself. These structures bear the marks of conflict and also burst with organic potential, searching or strategies of survival that are essential to the continuation of life.

A PHD holder from the University of Sorbonne, Bassam has exhibited locally and internationally, notably at the Sursock Museum in Beirut and several International Biennales, including the Islamic Biennial in Iran and the Biennial of Alexandria in Egypt. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions and art fairs in Paris, Moscow, Hong Kong, Basel, Dubai and Beirut. Since 2001 Bassam works as a professor of the Fine arts at the Lebanese University in Beirut.

Bechir is a Syrian artist whose works explore the intersection between Arabic calligraphy and expressive abstract colors. He works by dissecting aspects of everyday life and reinterpreting them through his own artistic expressions.

Former president of the Syrian Plastic Artists Union, Bechir is very active in his hometown and the regional art scene.

Painter, illustrator and architect, Benoit Debbane is born in Beirut in 1974 and raised by a family of artists. In 1991, as soon as the war ends, he first emerges as a graffiti artist in the streets of his beloved hometown. Later on, he studies architecture at the Académie Libanaise des Beaux Arts (ALBA), a discipline in which he will not work, but will heavily impact his aesthetics and composition. Instead, he kicks off his carreer as a freelance illustrator/comic artist for various local magazines-notably Aishti Magazine (2004-2009), newspapers (notably L'Orient le-lour (1997-today)) and reputable advertisement agencies. Later on, Benoit will also teach the art of illustration at the Lebanese American University (LAU) and digital art at ALBA. As a painter, Benoit holds many sold out solo shows to his account, mainly exhibited at ART LOUNGE BEIRUT (2008-2014). Following this period, Benoit is forced to recluse due to a health challenge. Yet, he remains active through commissioned works and his participation to collective art auctions, both local and international In June 2019, Benoit makes his comeback with a successful solo show OUGA! OUGA! at GALERIE CHERIFF TABET before entering an exclusive 3-year representation by the same gallery (ended April 2022). Today, with the pandemic and unprecedented local Lebanese crisis alike having heavily impacted and saturated the -art- market in Lebanon, Benoit sees a momentum in finally dedicating to seriously explore new horizons such as the regional Arab and international art scenes. Although continuously evolving into more and more abstract forms, Benoit's art has kept its essence alive through splashes of signature neon colors and irreverent doodles that remind us of his street art debuts. His art can be qualified as playful, subtly satirical, and sometimes provocative, as it explores the contradictions and absurdities of the crazy world we live in, through the eyes of a child who refuses to grow up. And for a valid reason.

Born in 1984 in Syria. 

She earned a degree in Fine Arts from Damascus in 2005 and is a member of the Art Association. She participated in a number of group exhibitions in Damascus and Aleppo as well as the Beirut Art Fair. She also took part in several workshops.

Her first solo exhibition was held in 2010 in Syria. She received the first prize for sculpture twice, in 2006 & 2008.

Exhibitions:

2014 Collective Exhibition with Souad Abdallah in Art on 56th Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2013 Summer Collective Exhibition with Art on 56th Gallery

2013 Beirut Art Fair with Art on 56th Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2012 “Selections” at Samer Kozah Gallery, Damascus, Syria

2011-2012 Tha Khan gallery, damascus, Syria

2011 Kalemat gallery, Aleppo, Syria

2011 Salt Al Sha’b, Homs, Syria

2011 “Sketch” Roak Al Kashla gallery, Damascus, Syria

2010 Solo Exhibition at Roak Al Kashla (Mustafa Ali gallery), Damascus, Syria

2010 Noha Al Ali’s workshop of ceramics, Damascus, Syria

2009 “Opening Doors “of artist’s ateliers in Tal Al Hejara, Syria

2009 Participation in Woman’s Day at George Kamel’s gallery, Damascus, Syria

2009 Exhibition at Talisman hotel, Damascus, Syria

2009 ”Work and art” (cement in forming), Damascus, Syria

2008 Lekaa competition of Samer Kozah gallery, Damascus, Syria

2008 Exhibition at Dar Kalemat, Aleppo, Syria

2008 Annual culture week exhibition of Shabablek magazine in Dar al Opera,

Damascus, Syria

2007 Second culture week in Joulan in Damascus, Syria

2007 Participation in Tal Alhejara exhibition in gallery of Mustafa Ali, Damascus, Syria

2006 Group exhibition of three persons (sculpture, carving and painting) at Bet Jabry, Damascus, Syria

2006 First Culture Week of Joulan in Damascus, Syria

Awards:

2008 The first sculpture reward in Lekaa competition, Syria

2006 The first sculpture reward in annual youth competition in Damascus, Syria 

Statement:

Sculptures looking for hope

Bushra Mustafa begins her work by creative activity dedicated to exploit the sensory appeal of substance, and guided by its inspiration, and eagerly tracking the effects of the full form. Her ideas come from the subjects that already exist in reality, and she derives them from her inner most deep feelings. She always looks to her inside that is filled with contradictory emotions, taking from it works characterized by worried insurrectional character, and she offers her expressional sculptural system according to the concepts of real fact to address them by simplification that doesn't have the characteristics of known aesthetic, but falls back to the forms that suggest strength and weaknesses together, by using the deliberate exaggeration and distortion that highlight the emotional impact and the attention to the interior vision as a reaction against the known academic standards where the shape becomes loaded with strong emotional tensions.

Bushra hates the vacuum, so her sculptures come as deaf blocks of bodies that don't allow the light to penetrate or air to cross. They stand fixed or stay in a turtle shell carrying its both internal and external prison: worry, where hope is missing.”

Edward Shahda

Artist Charles Khoury was born in Lebanon in 1966 and graduated from ALBA in 2005. He teaches Fine Arts at the Saint Joseph School Antoura. He is a member of the Salon d’Automne of the Sursock Museum, the International Association of Fine Arts - Unesco in Paris, and the Association of Lebanese Artists. His art is a mixture of intertwined primal shapes and playful colours. His work has been displayed in solo and group exhibitions in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh, UK and France. In 2008, the Nicolas Sursock Museum in Beirut granted him the “Special Jury Award”, and he won the “Artist Residency: Lithography workshop” in Morocco in 2013.

Born in Syria in 1990, Ehab Zein Eddine graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts – Painting Department – Damascus University in 2013.

He has an experience in Design & Exhibitions at the Arab Cultural Centre (Syria) and at the Art Lab Gallery (Lebanon). He designed packages for Admirable Group in Hungary.

Born in Sweida, Syria, 1966, Fouad Abou Assaf is a sculptor who graduated from the Fine Art Faculty, Sculpture Department, Damascus University, 1991.

Hassan Abdallah is a Syrian artist, currently living in London as of 2011.

Abdallah has had many solo exhibitions in the Middle East and Europe; his abstract expression paintings reflect mostly his nostalgia to his childhood life in the countryside and the experience he has gone through … elements which are repeatedly invested in his paintings.

Born in Zakak Al Blat, Beirut - Lebanon in 1942

Jouni received a Diploma in Drawing and Painting from the Lebanese Academy of fine arts, Beirut, in 1964, and a Diploma in Drawing and Painting from the Foster Academy of Fine Arts, Valencia (Spain) in 1965.

His canvases are expressed in multiple languages; with total candor he sets forth the multiple movements of his self, in the manner of very great artists who act only on the prompting of some inner transport, an inspiration coming from the depths of his faculties and his innermost impulses. There, he also records the weight he feels of irremediable anguish born of solitude and the violent desire for a universe on whose threshold fear would stop.

Born in Damascus, Syria in 1981.

Al Sayed graduated from the Sculpture Department of the Institute of Applied Arts in Damascus in 2003.

Outstanding Syrian artist Houmam Al Sayed’s exquisite works have recently come on the world stage at Sotheby’s in Doha and at a successful sale at Christies in Dubai. 

Houmam takes the human figure to a new level of expression with his playful and childish representations of everyday people set in a specific time and space. The faces are distinctive in their formative build with strong and flexible characters, which are grounded in his sculptural background.

Born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1946, Hrair Diarbekirian attended the Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts. A staple of the Lebanese art scene since 1961, he has exhibited extensively in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Americas. He is the recipient of several awards, including gold medals from the Sursock Museum in Lebanon and the Sao Paolo International Biennial.

He has paintings housed in the collections of both statesmen and celebrities, most notably among the private holdings of Queen Elizabeth II of England, Prince Rainier of Monaco and actor Kirk Douglas.

Characterized by a soft, warm palette that is accentuated with delicate brushwork, his work often explores scenes from ancient mythology, employing grand icAyyam Auctions ... Displaying 764 of 1279 characters.

Hussein Madi was born in 1938 in Chabaa, a border village at the foot of Mount Hermon in South Lebanon.

Painter, sculptor and engraver, he received his initial training at ALBA. Subsequently, he went to Rome where he enrolled at the Academia di Belle Arte and at the Academia di San Jacomo. 

In Rome he did advanced research into the cultural heritage of the Arabic East and of Egypt. He went back to Lebanon and taught sculpture and engraving at the institute of Fine Arts of 
the Lebanese University and, from 1958 to 1962, at ALBA. Since 1964 Madi has been living 
between Beirut and Rome. He has been exhibiting in Europe since 1965.

 The Italian critic Joseph Silvaggi writes about Madi: "His drawings are filled with symbols and rich with artistic conventions in simplified forms; they are an enchanted script, a résumé of figurative art, the art of modern man."



 Hussein Madi makes use of the art of calligraphy, today consisting of symbols, which were originally pictograms. Madi tries to take these symbols back to the time when writing was half-picture, half-symbol. He has thus reconciled the real, represented by a partial image, with the symbolic, connected with the inner life of man. Between these two poles, he has built marvelous worlds, the realistic one, which binds man to the earth and the symbolic one binding man to his conception of the world. In this manner, he satisfies both the eye and the mind at the same time.


With exceptional power, Madi outlines a silhouette of man on the entire surface of the canvas with two quick strokes of his large brush. A vertical line and a curved one make up the frame of this stylized painting. The features of his characters are those of the Oriental man clearly showing his cultural heritage. In their attitudes, two expressions are found: a static one which shows permanence in the face of the transitory, and the deep Oriental faith in immortality and eternal rest, and also a facial expression of cruel irony, playing the part of the mask in the Greek tragedy or an expression of suffering through stiff posture, like the loud outburst of a horrible cry, the terrible roar of the Assyrian lioness dragging along her crushed rump. This rending roar personifies the cry of Humanity. 

 In Hussein Madi statues, one finds a creative power, which translates human feelings. It already existed in the Oriental artistic heritage and has started again to play its civilizing role in the art of today.

Publications:



"The Art of Madi", 2004, Al-Saqi Publisher
E. Benezit, Grund 1999, Volume 8, page 945

Born in Deir El Zor, Syria in 1959

Hamid graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University 1986. He is a member of the Arabs Artists Associations & Journalistic Associations and has had an impressive 22 solo exhibitions in Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, Japan, and Venezuela.

Born in Beirut in 1983, Ihad Ahmad graduated in Visual Communication Art from the Lebanese University. He also took part in several workshops in silkscreen printing, painting and drawing.

In 2016 he founded "Beirut Art Studio", a space dedicated to teaching art to children and adults.

Ihab's work is diverse. In addition to acrylic and collage on canvas, he creates metal and wood sculptures with a contemporary flare. Ihab developed a symbiotic relationship with his intriguing natural symbols such as fish, eyes, trees, and man-made symbols like patterns and geometric forms, all of which emerged as an intense and bright abstraction. This connection is entrenched in his determination to defy his childhood memories of war. His joyful art and affinity with color became a refuge as well as a powerful message of optimism. Every work has the potential to reveal the artist’s psyche and ultimately transcends it. The symbols elaborated on his canvas trigger the imagination of the viewer, a dialogue with the surreal, and an open ended horizon of contemplation and decoding.

Born in Damascus, Syria in 1989

Habbab graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts - Department of Painting and Drawing at the Damascus University in 2011.

“I want to search for the beauty in everything, give space to my brush to express it, and point to the beauty inside the ugliness. (I mean real beauty, not superficial). To create the infinity of colored groups, and generate with each single move the rise from the center of dichotomy - of the warm and the cold colors with its different tones, and their rise to the gray and what comes after the faded gray on the painting surface. A calm second, despite its noise, releases colored fragments, describing the thunder of this explosion, with both the excitement of the moment and the striving of each molecule towards stability.”

A Syrian artist of outstanding skill in the medium of drawing. His expressionist works stand out with their simplified imagery and architectural lines. His subjects are drawn from rural life and the uncomplicated world of childhood, which he depicts using bold lines, indicative of the expressionist school to which he belongs.

Born in Hems, Syria in 1955, he studied Urban Architecture at the Univeristy of Aleppo, graduating in 1980.  He also studied art at the Plastic Arts Centre in Hems, graduating in 1972. He was apprenticed under the wing of artist Raed Ahmed Darraq Al-Seba’i and is considered a devout follower of the Kayyali and Seba’i schools.

He has participated in a number of solo exhibitions as well as various group exhibitions in Syria.

Born in 1968 in Kuwait, Issa Halloum is a Lebanese painter who takes inspiration from the natural beauty and everyday scenes found in his homeland, from the expansive green fields of the Bekaa to fishing boats coming ashore and carefully tended pot plants on a brightly coloured balcony.

Halloum studied at the National Institute of Fine Arts, Lebanese University, graduating in 1993, and later at the Academia di Bera in Milan. His canvases portray immediately recognisable subjects, captured in uplifting colours and with a freshness that adds to the immediacy of the scene, but also lends a touch of nostalgia. Shades of azure depict both the Mediterranean waters that are home to bathers and fishermen, and the charming, peeling paint of a wall providing the background to a delightful display of flowering plants, while farm animals and trees, complete with fruit, are set against a dazzling golden meadow.

Detailed or silhouetted, Halloum’s subjects are immediately discernible, reinforcing the reality that the artist is committed to sharing. Halloum’s work has been shown extensively in Lebanon, including at the Salon d’Automne, Sursock Museum, as well as in Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Italy. It can also be found in local and international private collections.

Born in 14 of May 1948 in Bayssour, in the Chouf region of Lebanon, where he lives and works.

Molaeb started his artistic career in the seventies, after training under renowned artists such as Chafic Abboud and Paul Guiragossian at the Fine Arts Institute of the Lebanese University, from which he graduated in 1972.

Craving further discoveries and exposure to the world, he spent a year visiting Algeria and, in 1984, enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at New York’s Pratt Institute, to later obtain a PhD degree in Art Education from the University of Ohio in 1979.

Born in Zehalta, Jezzine, Lebanon in 1960

Ayoub graduated from the Michael Angelo’s Academy of Beirut holding a degree of Interior design in 1981.

He traveled to the United States in year 2000 and settled in Massachusetts for few months. Living in New Hampshire and in a very particular time of the year, Autumn, oriented Ayoub’s art to a new direction that was obvious in his paintings.

He made his first painting at the age of 19 and started working with the watercolor paintings from 1985 till 1996.



He displayed his work in many exhibitions in Lebanon and around the world mainly in France, Kuwait and the US.

Lana Dandan is a first generation Lebanese-American video, photo and installation artist based in Los Angeles, who spent her childhood in the United States and adolescence in Beirut,Lebanon. Life in Beirut became the core of her inspirations and burdens, both of which motivate her practice. Caught between here and there, then and now, acutely aware of impermanence, she is a member of the in between, a product of contradictory ideas and images.

Lana’s work has been shown at venues in Beirut, Berlin, Los Angeles and the Bay Area. She earned her BA in Visual Media Arts from Emerson College, and her MFA from California College of theArts. She has spent time not only working as an independent artist, but also in film production and promotion, working for organizations such as the San Francisco International Film Festival,SF Film Archive, and Al Jazeera America.

Larissa Chaoul is a lifelong artist and creator. A comic aficionado from a young age, Chaoul found early expression through comic-like renderings of figures and forms. Her art reflects her approach to life, namely in her resistance to seriousness, instead electing for a light, playful approach. Consequently, Chaoul creates whimsical, diverse pieces, rupturing with bold colors, dynamic movement, and eccentric figures. Through abstraction, distortion, and diverse visual elements that twist and meld into one another, her work often assumes the form of intricate visual tapestries, weaving together the various component details of a piece into a coherent, yet profoundly eclectic experience.

Chaoul has also received recognition for her much anticipated NFT collection. NFTs, a growing trend in the world of digital art, represent a milestone in the evolution of art collection and creation. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) utilize block chain technology to attach a totally unique, non-replicable digital identity to artworks. These can be used to certify the authenticity and ownership of a specific piece, essentially opening space for the purchase, sale, and collection of digital ‘originals’. We had the privilege of speaking with Chaoul to ask her about her upcoming collection and what this project means for the development of her artistic voice.

Layla Dagher is born in Beirut, Lebanon. Studied at Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts and earned her diploma in Visual Arts with honors degree.

She teaches fine arts at NDU and AKU universities.

Her art has been showcased in various exhibitions. Recently she exhibits at Carré D'Artistes Beirut.

She is a member of the syndicate of Lebanese artists.

Her art is figurative and recently she works on cities landscape using mixed media with playful colours.

Lina Maalouf Husseini ( Beirut, Lebanon 1965 ) is a self-taught artist. She graduated from the American University of Beirut, (major Public Administration).

Passionate about contemporary art, a thirst for creativity and spontaneous art inspires her. Through her works, she expresses an intuitive and a singular art.

Eager to try out new techniques, she creates sculptures using the diversity of wood, clay, metal, plastic and recycled materials to raise awareness about social and environmental challenges while always keeping a touch of humor. One of her pvc sculptures titled « Together » was acquired in January 2022 by Peoria Riverfront Museum USA for its permanent collection.

Exhibitions:

April 2022, solo exhibition, "Invisible Sentiments" at Zoha.s.artspace, Beirut, revealing 13 mixedmedia wall installations.

January-March 2022, group exhibition "Walls Open House" at Walls House of Art, Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

December 2021, collective exhibition « From Peoria to Lebanon » at the « Peoria Riverfront Museum » Peoria, Illinois, USA.

November 2021, solo exhibition, « 200 degrees » at Arthaus, Beirut, revealing 33 sculptures in pvc.

October 2021, participation in the contemporary art fair Art3F Marseille, France with Gat-Art gallery.

June 2021, collective pop-up exhibition « Untold Stories » organized by « Artists of Beirut »

2020, a selection of her works on permanent display at the Gat-Art gallery, France.

December 2019, group exhibition « October 17, 2019 » at Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut.

June 2019, collective exhibition in the International - Multi Art Events, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France.

March 2018, solo exhibition, « Second Degré » at Exode gallery, Beirut.

2015, works on permanent display at Kaf gallery, Beirut.

December 2014, solo exhibition, « Machetag », at Biel, Beirut.

Lina Maalouf Husseini (Beyrouth, Liban, 1965) est diplômée de l’Université Américaine de Beyrouth (licence en administration publique).

Artiste autodidacte, passionnée d'art contemporain, une soif de créativité et d'art spontané l'inspire. A travers ses oeuvres, elle exprime un art intuitif et singulier.

A la recherche de nouvelles techniques, elle crée des sculptures en utilisant la diversité des matériaux, le bois, l’argile, les métaux et les objets recyclés afin de sensibiliser, avec humour, aux thèmes sociaux et environnementaux. "Together", une de ses sculptures en pvc, a été acquise par Peoria Riverfront Museum USA pour faire partie de sa collection permanente.

Expositions:

Avril 2022, exposition solo "Invisible Sentiments" à Zoha.s.artspace, Beyrouth où elle révèle 13 installations murales en mixedmedia.

Janvier-Mars 2022, exposition collective "Walls Open House" à Walls House of Art, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

Décembre 2021, exposition collective « From Peoria to Lebanon » au « Peoria Riverfront Museum » Peoria, Illinois, USA.

Novembre 2021, exposition solo "200 degrees" à Arthaus, Beyrouth, où elle révèle 33 sculptures en pvc.

Octobre 2021, participation au salon international d'art contemporain Art3F, Marseille.

Juin 2021, exposition collective "Untold Stories" organisée par "Artists of Beirut ».

2020 une selection de ses oeuvres exposée à la galerie Gat-Art, La Ciotat, France.

Décembre 2019, exposition collective « October 17, 2019 » à la Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beyrouth.

Juin 2019, participation au Salon International - Multi Art Events, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France.

Mars 2018, exposition solo "Second Degré" à la galerie Exode, Beyrouth.

2015, ses oeuvres sont exposées à la galerie Kaf ,Beyrouth.

2014, exposition solo, « Machetag » à Biel, Beyrouth.

Visual artist Magda Chaaban seeks to instill hope and inspire people to see Lebanon’s capital Beirut through her eyes during these trying times.

Chaaban is a Lebanese-American painter, sculptor, and author. She told Al Arabiya English in an interview that art was very important to Lebanese society. Aside from being a vessel for driving change, art depicts history in a way that history book cannot, she said.

“It is a communication through images and colors, which maybe brings some hope for people. It preserves what historical records cannot, like for example, a story behind a painting can describe how it felt to exist in a particular place at a particular time, it’s like writing history.”

She continued, “I see that this is much more important for generations later when they see art during this period of time, maybe they can understand much better than [if they] read a history book about what happened at that moment in time.”

Maha Mahfouz is a talented Lebanese Artist whose work is deeply rooted in strong Middle Eastern traditions but draws contemporary inspiration from her diverse experiences that come from living in a variety of countries and being exposed to an array of richly deep cultures.She was always fascinated by the city life with all its advantages and disadvantages whether in Beirut her home country or in Dubai her second home where she resides now Initially working as an Interior designer, her travels across Australia, Singapore, Egypt and a 3 year stay in Indonesia , sparked a growth of inspiration within her, fueled by the local art scene. She learnt to use a variety of new mediums to express her message, from drawing on silk in Indonesia, to oil painting, to finally find her passion for acrylic media, combined sometimes with collage and paper cuts from magazines.Inspired by culture and real-life emotions, her art has been described as “the kind of art driven by experiences.” Her paintings cover the full gamut of human emotion, and wherever they may be on that vast spectrum, they are given the same depth of feeling and expression within her carefully crafted artwork, no matter the medium or channel.Since the early days, her main passion has always been painting and pencil drawing, This is what drove her to pursue her dream and further learn the art of technical drawing and painting courses in Lebanon while she was preparing for her BA in Interior Design from the Lebanese American University in 1990 , where she had great teachers, the likes of the well-known artist Rached Bohsali. In 2004 she relocated to Dubai with her family and her journey with Art started.In that same year she staged a collective exhibition in Jumeirah 1, under Lebanese women’s work ,with media coverage and in 2006 she joined the collective group exhibition MOSAÏC at the Dubai Ladies Club. 2006 was a busy year not only with her aforementioned exhibitions, but also with her paintings being displayed and sold at the prestigious gallery OBEGI HOME since their opening in Dubai. This collaboration with OBEGI , led in 2007 for her to be assigned by NAKHEEL developement to provide all paintings for their showhouse in Jumeirah Park. This collaboration with OBEGI lasted for seven years where she sold most of her paintings and artwork. Since 2019, part of her works now reside in well known online gallery ,The Gallerist Beirut Art in Lebanon.

The potter Maher al-Samarrai was born in 1950 in the city of Samarra .

He completed his studies in the city of Samrra and joined the Academy of Fine Arts, Universty of Baghdad , graduating im 1974 and lecturing as a teaching assistant.

He then traveled in the mid-eighties to Los Angeles in the United States of America to obtain a Master of Arts in 1984, then a Master in Sculpture and Glazing in 1985.

Born in Damascus, Syria in 1985.

Mahmoud was taught by a professional artist  Salam Omar (he  worked with him professionally in Damascus then in Beirut after moving to Lebanon as for the events developed in Syria). 

He descended from an artistic family, and this gave him an opportunity to listen and to draw closer to the artistic atmosphere by following up exhibitions held in Syria & Lebanon, and looking at the experiences of  these artists,  both Syrians and Iraqis, as well as Lebanese and foreign artists .

 
As his painful experience with family in his hometown continued, especially the death of his brother, this made ​​him think of a way to express his feelings to respond to what was happening to him, so he uses the Persian calligraphy technique that is integrated with his own texture & colors through which he tries to show his emotions that reflect what is happening now in the Middle East in his own abstract point of view.

After this calligraphy stage, he began to discover a lot, and think of  an aesthetic research in a different way than ever before regarding Damascus ancient houses, their walls, miseries and the human reflections good and bad experienced by, appearing clear on those walls.

Born in 1965

Mahmoud Shubar is an Iraqi abstract artist whose works are released from academic restrictions. Freedom and spontaneity have become the engine of his pen.

He is part of several art associations in Iraq and has to his credit several solo and group exhibitions in Iraq and elsewhere.

He was awarded the 1st prize twice at the International festival of arts in Egypt.

His works are part of collections in Romania, Russia, Italy, the United States ...

Born in 1995 in Lebanon.

At age 10, Marc moved to Dresden - Germany with his family. Aside from being born in an artistic family, Germany introduced him to a world of masters in art.  As a young artist, he believed that every artist is born with his own style, he followed the teachings of art history, learning from the great masters. He was inspired by Peter Paul Rubens, Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Albrecht Durer, William Turner, Botticelli and so on.

“One of the reasons I paint is because I am surrounded with an artistic family and I have been raised in my father’s studio.

Many artists have inspired me, such as the renaissance artists or even modern artists.

I express my self through my art”.

Born in Syria in 1981.

Mazen Alfeel is an internationally acclaimed painter trained at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University. His work has been exhibited in Copenhagen, Roskilde, Damascus, and Beirut. His master thesis, ”Monochrome in Syrian Painting during the second half of the 20th century" explored the dialogue between monochromatic paintings in Syrian and European art from the 13th - 20th century.

Born in Baalbeck, Lebanon, Mazen El Rifai has studied in Lebanon and Italy.

He holds a Diploma degree, which he got from Marceta-Italy in 1974, and a Diploma of high study in "Decoration Arts" from the Lebanese University (Interior Design).

He practiced architecture and interior painting , from 1981 to 2005 and participated in many solo exhibitions and group shows in Lebanon and abroad.

Workshop leader at the Beaux Arts, he left teaching to devote himself to architecture and painting. He never stopped painting his hometown and source of inspiration, Baalback. His work is characterized by transparency and luminosity and it captures an interpretation of feelings.

Abdallah received his Drawing and Painting diploma from the Institution of Fine Arts in Lebanon.

He is a sworn expert at the Lebanese tribunes of painting, and a member of the Lebanese Artists Association for painting and sculpture. He has shown his work in multiple group and solo exhibitions around Lebanon, including the Sursock Museum.

Born in Basrah, Iraq in 1963

Mseir received his BA In Painting from the University of Baghdad. He is a member of I.P.A.G, the Iraqi Plastic Artists Union, and the Iraqi Artists Society. He has exhibited in many solo and group exhbitions in Iraq, Jordan and Italy, and his personal collections can be found in Baghdad, Jordan, Lebanon, USA, Egypt, UAE, UK, Germany and India.

“There is a principle that I believe in and that is that life cannot stop. The things that come to stop may come, but life goes on and on. When it stops, it really only stops the part that dies and somehow life continues with the permanent movement. I believe that the stop is death and the movement is life. Any idea of life. This idea started by chance when I was painting the works of Abstract and noticed the existence of a triangle I had drawn inside my board without realizing. I found it very beautiful. I decided to work in search of the triangle and discovered things. The task of this form, especially about how the Sumerians had been interested in this form to a large extent and used them as symbols for permanence and motherhood.  They would when they want to write a woman draw a triangle upside down. Any floor up and head down. It seems that they took from the design of the woman because I saw it in their carvings of the mother. Strangely, this place is the origin of the new life. They have the existing triangle, whose base is lower, meaning they have power or perhaps the male also. And when the introduction of the triangles in some produces a six-star representing integration and life. And that star also found in the Reliant carved from the Sumerians. Take this study time and drew back works of the idea. And developed that idea to the bike in the  air. When I remembered my childhood that I was seeing my father as he climbed the bike to go to work I was seeing him and there is a question in my mind ... Why do not you drop the bike and it contains only two wheels???? What makes it stand up???? Then she realized that there is a third rib in addition to the ribs represented by the two wheels. It is the start, speed or movement ... The bike cannot stand down because it is only two wheels, it is only two fingers. But it does not fall if I continue movement ... This philosophical principle of my work plus to the shape of the bike form beautiful and loved and I adore the small machine accompanied me from my childhood and stick my life. I love shape and movement ....”

Born in Lebanon in 1985.

Mohamad was born from a modest family with a background in art, and he loved art in all its shapes, so he became a dreamer at his inner core.

He focused on the outcomes of the Arab  world throughout his life and his identity which he devoted himself to show in a very civilized way.

Mohamad was affected by the plastic arts of the Iraqi art scene, studying at the hands of many professionals and modern teachers, learning unique techniques, to weave the links of time combining Arabic calligraphy and Western modern colors resulting in a unique fine art combination.

“I am the child that rejoices in the colors of life. I am the one that hopes that people will comprehend their own actions, and for them to understand the most enjoyable moments in life come from addressing them in the form of the paintbrush.”

In his last exhibition Samaha mixes Arabic calligraphy with silhouettes of images of the people who have been affected in the Arab spring.

Born in Al Hassakeh, Syria in 1969.

Jajan, a graduate of the Syrian Academy of Art, said he has dedicated his life to art and that materialism was not why he was on Hamra street. "An exhibition with a theme as noble as peace for children usually is held in esteemed locations, but I decided otherwise. I love people and that is why I opted to have the gallery by the sidewalk." Jajan was offered a room and a store to run as his gallery at no cost by Le Marly Hotel in Hamra, where he currently resides and works.

Jajan tries to convey his ideas and vision for peace for the children of the world through his paintings. But for those who wander in to his gallery and do not understand his theme, he engages them in dialogue.

Natali Meaiki is a composer of Stories, color and emotions. She started her Art self-discovery journey when she graduated as an Interior Architect from Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts.

Emotions and pigments are equally in flux in her work, and together convey a deeper sense of reality mixed with fantasy through vivid brush strokes. Natali refers to her paintings as “emotional experiences” where memories and self-discovery play a major role. These vibrant explorations of feelings and struggles on canvas remain enigmatic similar to her motifs that dissolve into an environment of hope.

Natali is sharing with the viewer her internal world of thoughts, struggles and happiness that manifests

through her practice and onto her canvas.

But she believes that Art

leaves room for the viewer to interpret his way, look at the figures on the canvas and imagine their own stories, from their own experiences…

Born in Ankala, Ifrin – Syria in 1968, and currently lives in Damascus. 

Gulé is a member of the Syrian Fine Arts Association and the Syrian Plastic Artists Association, writing regularly on Plastic Art in Syrian and Arab Newspapers. He is a regular participant in official exhibitions organized by the Syrian Ministry of Culture, receiving an award for Third place in Young Syrian Artists Exhibition in Damascus, Syria in 2006.

His works have been exhibited in more than 30 solo collective exhibitions in Syria, the Arab world and Europe, and are amongst the private collections of the Ministry of Culture and private collectors in Europe, America and multiple Arab Countries.

Born in Damascus in 1990

Kawa has a degree in Interior Architecture from the Fine Arts Department at the Damascus University and is a member of the Syrian Plastic Artist’s Union.

Kawa has participated in several solo and group exhibitions in Beirut, Syria and Germany. Her works can be found in the collections of many significant art patrons both regionally and internationally.