Art Design Lebanon

Today, we're throwing it back to Caroline Tabet and Oliver DeGem's precious contribution to our second exhibition, Lost in the right direction.

On Magnetic Declination is a collaboration between DeGen, a jewellery designer, and Tabet, a photographer. The work reflects on the motion of the earth, the subtle shifting of the northern point of a compass, and the movement of displaced people forced to flee to foreign shores.

DeGem and Tabet considered what precious items these people might choose to take with them; something they would keep close to their heart in an act of remembrance.

The resulting installation consists of twelve round locket pendants, four of each size, shaped like moons and suns.

To bring their vision to life, DeGem and Tabet worked with local glassmakers Nisrine Khalife and Pierre Rajha; Topkapi, the factory which crafted the copper pendants; Coin d’Art for the photo prints. This work is realized through the support of George Salameh and Clémence Cottard Hachem.

Some of the pieces in the series Magnetic Declination are still available for purchase, through the online catalogue at our website (link in bio) or by contacting us directly.
—
Photos by

It was such a pleasure hosting the conversation between Hassan Zahreddin, Jana Traboulsi, and Hatem Imam last week, as part of Zahreddin's solo exhibition Engraving. Thank you to everyone who came!

Works are available for purchase through our online catalogue, accessible at the link in bio.

The exhibition is open until Saturday, July 6th, 12-7pm. Last chance–don't miss it!

Some of the immaculately rendered prints by Hassan Zahreddin , on display as part of the artist's solo exhibition Engraving. The exhibition, curated by Hatem Imam , is open until July 6th, Tuesday to Sunday, 12 to 7pm. Don't miss it!

The prints are directly available for purchase through the online catalogue, accessible at the link in bio.
—
Photos by

Join us this Thursday, June 27th, at 7pm for a conversation between Hassan Zahreddin and Jana Traboulsi, moderated by Hatem Imam, around Zahreddin’s solo exhibition Engraving, at Labyrinth, Art Design Lebanon’s new space on Gergi Zeidan Street, Ashrafieh.

Hassan Zahreddine is a Lebanese printmaker and illustrator currently living in Canada. He studied Fine Arts in Lebanon and Canada. He has had solo exhibitions in Lebanon and abroad, and has participated in numerous group exhibitions in different countries.

Jana Traboulsi .traboulsi is a visual artist, designer and academic. She is Assistant professor in Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut.

Hatem Imam is a visual artist and graphic designer. He is the co-founder and creative director of Studio Safar, co-founder of the design and visual culture magazine Journal Safar, co-founder of Samandal Comics, and artistic director of Annihaya Records.

See you there!

Thank you to everyone who came to the opening of Engraving by Hassan Zahreddin on Friday! The exhibition is open everyday (except Sunday and Monday) from 12 to 7pm at Labyrinthe, on Gergi Zaidan Street in Ashrafieh. (Location in bio)
—
Photos by

At the opening of Hassan Zahreddin's exhibition Engraving, Art Design Lebanon is also releasing the illustrated book Zin in Arabic written and illustrated by the artist himself.

Join us this Saturday, June 15th, between 12 and 7pm, at Labyrinthe on Gergi Zaidan Street in Ashrafieh!

We are thrilled to announce the opening of the solo exhibition Engraving by Hassan Zahreddin, on Saturday, June 15th at the pop up exhibition Labyrinthe on Gergi Zeidan Street in Ashrafieh.

Some words from the artist:
Engraving helps me create a world whose primary characteristic is austerity, whereby the choice of size is limited, as are the colors. The treatment is preliminary and direct. The hand tries its best to control the sharp engraving tools so as not to deviate from the line drawn by the eye. The composition is simple and direct, as there is no need to beautify a few potatoes or an empty plate, it is enough to observe a faint light on a surface and an extension of a shadow.

Curation and scenography by Hatem Imam.

We're looking forward to welcoming you this Saturday!

A highlight from our first group exhibition, Everyone is the creator of one's own faith, three years ago at the Tabbal Building:

The Red Castle, As It Occurred by Hussein Nassareddine .hussein deals with writings and poems that describe the architecture and spatiality of monuments. The slippage between word and image in such poems is mirrored in the imperfect preservation of historic texts.

The work departs from a verse of Abbasid poet Al-Mutanabbı, in which he describes the “Red Castle”, establishing a connection with a history of architecture description and violence in poetry, while hinting at the subtle transformation of the castle from white to red.
—
Photos by Vartan Seraydarian .

Introducing ourselves again, now that it's been three years since our first exhibition, Everyone is the creator of one's own faith. We couldn't be more grateful—thank you for your continued support!

Watch this space to learn about our upcoming projects, coming very soon.

We are grateful for all the journalistic coverage which Christine Safatly's show Life Beyond the Self has received, and we are especially grateful for our press and media relations collaborators, Mirros Communications . The tireless and thoughtful work of Mirros' founder, Joumana Rizk-Yarak , has helped countless cultural endeavors in Lebanon and beyond finds their right public—ours included!

Thank you to everyone who came to see Life Beyond the Self by Christine Safatly! Here are some photos of the many faces which graced us with their presence at the Mayflower Hotel, as well as of the inspiring artist tours which Safatly conducted throughout the exhibition's duration.

Stay tuned for updates on our upcoming projects!

Due to popular demand, Life Beyond the Self by Christine Safatly is open to visitors—by appointment—for one more week. Please call the following the following number to arrange a time slot for visitation: +961 3 775 199.

One last chance to see this momentous body of work!

For Seafaring, Christine Safatly repurposes a bed sheet discolored by rust stain. She composes with chemical acrylic paint, spray paint, soft pastel, and charcoal.

The work provokes our nautical imaginary—of sea voyages and maritime leisure—only to confront that imaginary with the immeasurable harm caused by pollution and aggressive exploitation of bodies of water.
____
Exhibition partially funded by Mawred Culture Resource
Scenography by Etienne Coppé
Photos by Vartan Seraydarian

Christine Safatly’s Human Enhancement series, made with a combination of chemical and natural acrylic paint, pastels, spray paint, and pencil on cotton canvas, interrogates the technological augmentation of humans and its ensuing ramifications.

This series of canvas drawings and others are available for purchase in one-of-a-kind editions from our online catalog. Visit our website to learn more!
____
Exhibition partially funded by Mawred Culture Resource.
Scenography by Etienne Coppé
Photos by Vartan Seraydarian .

In Virgin forest in the setting sun, Christine Safatly stretches and suspends an ordinary plastic table cloth adorned with foliage, making her tense marks on the domestic surface. With acrylic, pastel, charcoal, and other materials, she brings the synthetic and toxic to bear on idealized depictions of virgin nature. Her work is a potent reminder that the human subject cannot be isolated from its ecological entanglements, and from the harm which it constantly inflicts.

Virgin forest in the setting sun and the other works in Safatly's Life Beyond the Self are available for purchase in one-of-a-kind editions from our online catalog. Visit our website to learn more!
____
Exhibition partially funded by Mawred Culture Resource
Scenography by Etienne Coppé
Photos by Vartan Seraydarian

In the series Harvest Time, as well as in the Virgin forest in the setting sun, Christine Safatly brings the synthetic and toxic to bear on domestic and idyllic images of untouched nature. She repurposes plastic table covers, transforming the ubiquitous domestic items—with their bright and popular depictions of plants and fruits—into her canvas. Her marks on the surface, made with acrylic, pastel, charcoal, and other materials, have an ominous quality, putting idealized representation into tension with the reality of entanglement and manmade harm.

These works and others are available for purchase in one-of-a-kind editions from our online catalog. Visit our website to learn more!
____
Exhibition partially funded by Mawred Culture Resource.
Scenography by Etienne Coppé
Photos by Vartan Seraydarian .

Hosted in a former storage space of the Mayflower Hotel, the scenography of the exhibition Life Beyond the Self was conceived by Safatly herself and executed with Safatly's frequent collaborator, Etienne Coppé. The mismatched floor tiling and the austerity of the display fixtures echo the timeless and primordial laboratory space whereby Safatly performs her experiments, whilst evoking the evolution across the ages of humanity’s influence on its habitat.

The exhibition is open daily (except Sundays and Monday) until Saturday, April 27th, 2024, from 12 to 7pm. Do not miss out on this journey through time and through speculative forms of embodiment.
—
Exhibition partially funded by Mawred Culture Resource.
Photos by Vartan Seraydarian .

In the series of drawings Sentient Species, Christine Safatly uses soft pastel, chemical acrylic paint, spray paint, feutre and pencil on paper to create constellations of hybrid and intelligent matter. She marries figuration with abstraction, ultimately manifesting the interconnectedness of all sentient beings, all the while shifting the focus away from humans as the central point of reference.

Life Beyond the Self by Christine Safatly is open daily (except Sundays and Monday) until Saturday, April 27th, 2024, from 12 to 7pm.

This series, along with the rest of the works on show, are available for purchase in one-of-a-kind editions. Visit our website and online catalog to learn more!
____
Exhibition partially funded by Mawred Culture Resource.
Scenography by Etienne Coppé
Photos by Vartan Seraydarian .

Online now! All the artworks in Life Beyond the Self by Christine Safatly are now available for acquisition on our website.

The links to the exhibition page and shop, as well as to the PDF exhibition catalogue, are available in our bio.

For sale inquiries and advice on acquiring artworks, please email us at [email protected].

At the center of the exhibition Life Beyond the Self are the two sculptural works titled The Anthropological Machine 1 & 2. Pictured here is the first sculpture in the series.

Composed of wire, fabric, nails, circuit boards, and other infrastructural components, the two sculptures interrogate the technological augmentation of humans and its ensuing ramifications. They are laid out horizontally on a display component resembling an operating table, or even an autopsy table, dramatizing the gesture of surgically precise intervention by the artist.

The exhibition's scenography was designed with Safatly's frequent collaborator, Etienne Coppé . The mismatched floor tiling and the austerity of the display fixtures echo the timeless and primordial laboratory space whereby Safatly performs her experiments, whilst evoking the evolution across the ages of humanity’s influence on its habitat.
—
Exhibition partially funded by Mawred Culture Resource. Photos by Vartan Seraydarian .

As we celebrate the strength, dedication, and brilliance of all women today, we at Art Design Lebanon and Gaïa Fodoulian Association, are extra proud to be women-run!

Art Design Lebanon's current exhibition, Life Beyond the Self by Christine Safatly exemplifies perfectly our dedication to feminism within the arts. Safatly's practice has consistently and beautifully espoused a feminist lens when dealing with subjects such as the body and the environment.

Above are also photos of our lovely founding director Annie Vartivarian and of her daughter Gaïa Fodoulian. Gaïa Fodoulian, who was killed in the Beirut port explosion of 4 August 2020, was an avid art and design lover and animal rescuer, who initially conceived of Art Design Lebanon.

Annie, her mother, brought Art Design Lebanon to life, and founded the Gaïa Fodoulian Association to continue her seminal work of rescuing and caring for animals through a sustainable platform.

We are proud to be women-run and to support women who are making a difference in the world. We hope that today serves as a reminder of the power of women everywhere, as well as of the challenges they continue to face and overcome.

Happy !

More smiles from our opening ceremony on Tuesday!

Life Beyond the Self by Christine Safatly will be open daily (except Sundays and Monday) until Saturday, April 27th, 2024, from 12 to 7pm. Do not miss this thought-provoking show!
—
Exhibition partially funded by Mawred Culture Resource.
Photos by .

Some photos from the lovely opening ceremony of Life Beyond the Self by Christine Safatly , which took place on Tuesday, February 27th, at the Mayflower Hotel in Hamra.

The exhibition will be open daily (except Sundays and Monday) until Saturday, April 27th, 2024, from 12 to 7pm. Join us!
—
Exhibition partially funded by Mawred Culture Resource.
Photos by .

Happening right now: opening of Life Beyond the Self by Christine Safatly. Join us tonight until 9pm! Photo by Vartan Seraydarian.

Some behind the scenes photos from the installation of Christine Safatly's first solo exhibition, Life Beyond the Self, opening tomorrow at 4pm at the Mayflower Hotel.

We're grateful for everyone who's helped us in putting the show together! We can't wait to welcome you all tomorrow. ✨

A reminder that some paintings by Hatem Imam from Slumber's Tongues, his recent solo exhibition with Art Design Lebanon, are still available for purchase. They are listed in full at the online catalogue on our website. Link in bio!

The above painting is titled Scene VII (2023 / 200 x 160 cm / oil, acrylic and charcoal on linen).

In the aftermath of recovery from the Beirut port explosion, Cherine Yazbeck embarked on an intensely emotive journey, aided by the soul-capturing lens of her camera.

These 20 framed collages of instant photographs, comprising the series Autour de la Catastrophe, are far more than visual narratives. They are the heart-wrenching chronicles of Beirut's unbreakable spirit, manifested in its people, during the tumultuous years from 2019 to 2023.

Chérine Yazbeck was on a mission, as a photojournalist, to transcend mere documentation: hers was a passionate calling to capture the ever-shifting essence of a city in perpetual flux.

The framed collages are available for sale on our website. As always, proceeds allow us to compensate the many individuals involved in hosting an exhibition. They also go towards supporting the work of the Gaia Fodoulian Association, which aims to raise the standards of animal welfare in Lebanon. Browse the collection now!

Today and tomorrow are the last two days to see Beirut Blast and Other Stories by Chérine Yazbeck at the Tabbal Building. It is open until 8pm on both days!

The show's nine chapter are the culmination of more than three year by Chérine Yazbeck, documenting the aftermath of the explosion on the lives of its victims. The exhibitions hold space for the gravity and solemnity of the matter, offering visitors moments of reflection and remembrance.