Ayman Baalbaki: Facing KO

Chosen to represent contemporary creation at the Lebanon Pavilion for the 59^th Venice Biennale, Ayman Baalbaki is a Lebanese artist born in Beirut in 1975. He grew up in a family oriented towards art: his father and his uncle were artists themselves. Following the same track, he trained first at the Institute of Fine Arts of the Lebanese University of 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 Francophonie Games and then participated in several exhibitions around the world. His works have been welcomed in Lebanon, France, Great Britain, Argentina, Egypt and Niger.

His productions from the last ten years have been compiled in this work, published in French, English and Arabic. The authors endeavor to decipher his paintings and installations, traversing societal issues specific to Lebanon: war, aborted revolt, political and financial bankruptcy, tragedy at the port of Beirut and even the pandemic. The artist paints anonymous portraits of his contemporaries, which today have become symbols of the Middle East. He represents the city and its buildings – erect, but also in ruins – through art which is vibrant, dynamic and textured.

Format: 240 x 290 mm
Number of pages: 166
Number of illustrations: approximately 250
Language: French, English, Arabic
ISBN: 9782376660651

AUTHORS

Paul Ardenne is a writer and art historian. He is the author of several works devoted to today's art and culture, such as Art, the Contemporary Age; Contextual Art; Extreme; Art, the Present; Happy, the Creators? and Ecological Art.

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 Artists and Workshops, published in 2016.

Jean-Louis Pradel is an art historian and art critic. He teaches at the National School of Decorative Arts.

Thierry Savatier, also an art historian and lecturer, is a specialist in the 19^th century.

Nayla Tamraz is a writer, art critic, curator, researcher and professor of literature and art history at Saint Joseph University in Beirut.