On
behalf of Agial Art Gallery, We would like to invite
you to the opening of the new thematic show I am
curating at the Beirut Art Center titled "The
Road to Peace: Painting in times of War: 1975-1991".
This exhibition hopes to show several artistic experiences
directly related to the trauma of the Lebanese civil
war produced by Lebanese artists and executed between
1975 and 1991. The body of works, in different media
and practices, reflects an art that has been seldom
shown in galleries or public spaces because of its
violence and despair. It was produced under pain
and anger in a form of expiation, cleansing and
apology from the hostility, brutality and cruelty
of a mad environment.
20
artists were chosen to highlight a period of the
Lebanese art scene that has been kept in the dark
for a long time. I tried to be as comprehensive
as I could but surely this event will open the door
to discover additional experiences yet waiting to
be unveiled. Most Lebanese artists have produced
some art related to the war, but I only selected
those who have tackled the topic of the war perseveringly
and over a sustained period, leaving a massive body
of work commemorating and archiving this gloomy
period of the contemporary history of Lebanon.
Some
Names of artists: Abdel Hamid Baalbaki,
Fouad el Khoury, Laure Ghorayyeb, Paul Guiragossian,
Hassan Jouni, Samir Khaddage, Jean khalifeh, Seta
Manoukian, Theo Mansour, Jamil Molaeb, Samia Osseiran
Jounblat...
Why
now? Mounting an exhibition on the war
has all through my career occupied my mind but the
enormity of the enterprise made it impossible to
plan it in a gallery or any commercial space. The
opening of the Beirut Art Center presented the perfect
venue for the project. In parallel, the increasing
interest in Middle Eastern art by western curators,
particularly in the contemporary practices of art,
left the modern movement in quasi oblivion. There
is a false belief that nothing was produced on the
war before the 1990's, and that the only generation
of artists which focused on the war is the emerging
one.
This exhibition hopes to reawaken the interest in
this forgotten and neglected period and shed light
on a very interesting production of the Lebanese
art scene in the last few decades. A catalog will
be published for the occasion, which includes a
study by Kristine Khouri on the Lebanese artistic
production during this period and how it is being
seen afterwards.
As an epilogue, Walid Sadek writes an essay on the
issue of witnessing a catastrophe, and how "impregnated"
by this event a witness can be. The rhetorical question
of the role of the artist with regard to apocalyptic
experiences and his personal involvement is continuously
present.
During
these unstable times of summer 2009 on the political
front, I hope these anguished images remind the
Lebanese of the atrocities of the civil war, in
order to avoid slipping again in the horrible meanders
of blood and violence.
Opening: Tuesday, June 16, 2009,
starting 6pm till July 14, 2009
Venue:
BEIRUT
ART CENTER, Jisr el Wati
Telephone: +961(70)262112
Monday-Saturday: 12:00-08:00pm
(for a detailed map, please check: www.beirutartcenter.org
)
The
show is available online: http://www.agialart.com/beirutartcenter.htm
Some
works:
Seta Manoukian
Theo Mansour
Fouad El Khoury
Jean Khalifeh
