Ayman Baalbaki
Chosen for the 59th Venice Biennale, to represent contemporary creation at the Lebanese pavilion Ayman Baalbaki is a Lebanese artist born in Beirut in 1975. He first trained at the Institute of Fine Arts of the university Lebanese school in Beirut, then at the National School of Decorative Arts in Paris. Five years after his arrival in France, he received the silver medal in painting at the Francophone Games and then participated in several exhibitions worldwide. Lebanon, France, Great Britain, Argentina, Egypt and Niger are all countries that welcome the works of the artist.
His productions of the last 10 years have been compiled through this unpublished work, published in French, English and Arabic. The authors endeavour to decipher his paintings and installations, crossed by societal issues specific to Lebanon: war, abortive revolt, political and financial bankruptcy, the tragedy of the port of Beirut or even pandemic. The artist paints anonymous portraits of his contemporaries, which have today become symbols of the Middle East. It represents the city, its buildings, erected, but also in ruins. His art is vibrant, dynamic and textured.
Text in English, French and Arabic.
Paul Ardenne is a writer and art historian. He is the author of several works devoted to art and culture of today: Art, the contemporary age, A contextual Art, Extreme, Art, the present, Happy, the creators?, An Art ecological… Philippe Dagen has been an art historian and critic for the newspaper Le Monde since 1985. He teaches the history of contemporary art at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He is the author of several books on art including Artistes and workshops, published in 2016. Jean-Louis Pradel is an art historian and art critic. He teaches at the National School of Arts Decorative. Thierry Savatier, also an art historian and lecturer, is a specialist in the 19th century. Nayla Tamraz is a writer, art critic, curator, researcher and professor of literature and art history at the University Saint Joseph of Beirut.