The selection that follows is a compilation of paintings produced abscent-mindedly:
I put myself in a voluntary aberration from carefulness and control over the medium I’m working with, and allow myself to perform an outburst of overloaded emotions. The results share a chaotic, accidental aesthetic created without any tangible reference. I then observe and assess the result to make sense of the aftermath.
I put myself in a voluntary aberration from carefulness and control over the medium I’m working with, and allow myself to perform an outburst of overloaded emotions. The results share a chaotic, accidental aesthetic created without any tangible reference. I then observe and assess the result to make sense of the aftermath.
Waan, 2014
Gouache on paper envelope
42 x 30 cm
The first painting I ever did that was not a reproduction of another artist’s work, “Waan” is the portrait of an androgynous creature. The painting is a compilation of bits and pieces from both my pleasant dreams and my nightmares.
Heima, 2015
Ink and text highlight on paper envelope
11 x 16 cm
Inspired solely by acoustic instrumental music by the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros, “Heima” represents home: a limitless village in distress, roamed by ghosts that haunt the post-war landscape.
“Heima” was used as the cover of a poetry book titled Matar A’ala Malameh Ghourbati, Arabic for “Rain on the face of my expatriation” written by Youssef Al Khodr, a young Syrian poet living in Beirut.
The Kiss, 2015
Ink and text highlight on sketchbook cover
21 x 27 cm
While grieving the loss of a lover, I found myself craving her kiss. I found no choice but to replace her lips with a blank piece of cardboard (the cover of a sketchbook) to desperately recreate an expression of love between her lips and my own, which were the instrument for creating this piece.
The Pain Ritual, 2015
Ink and blood on paper
21 x 29.7 cm
During the same period of grief that produced “The Kiss,” self-induced pain was a paradoxical coping mechanism that I quit performing after this last piece.