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A “coup de cœur” in art is offered to us at the Rebirth Beirut Gallery in Gemmayze from February 19 to 28, 2024. In this exhibition, a series of unprecedented artworks is unveiled in collaboration with Art Centuries, owned by Johnny Chartouni, an art collector and dealer.
This highly eclectic collection gathers works from a plethora of Lebanese or Western artists representative of contemporary art from the mid-20th century to today. We thus discover paintings by Hassan Jouni, Elie Kanaan, Paul Guiragossian, Hrair and Mohamad el Rawas, dating from the 1960s, oscillating between figurative and abstract expressionism, reviving nostalgic memories of a peaceful and prosperous Lebanon.
Elsewhere, in a joyful mix of eras and styles, the spirit of pop art clearly stands out, thanks to primary, vivid and saturated colors that burst into a beautiful fireworks display. Indeed, the vast majority of works – paintings, vases, objects and sculptures – presented at the exhibition borrow from the artistic current of pop art initiated by Richard Hamilton and Andy Warhol: the audacity and fantasy, the freedom of execution and language. Thus, comic book characters, movie stars, every day or consumer objects become the main subject of the work and are elevated to the status of art.
Popular images conveyed by the media are turned into little satirical nods, accusing the flaws of the modern world. Thus, on the same canvas, we find Tintin and Snowy, Captain Haddock and Lucky Luke, as well as other comic book characters. In another work at the border between sculpture and painting, the character of Mickey emerges in relief, brandishing a can of coke. Further on appears a contemporary reinterpretation of Jeff Koons’ Balloon Puppy, a pop art icon.
The contemporary Spanish painter Santiago Nivaro sketches, in a pointillist manner, the contours of Marilyn Monroe’s face with a multitude of tiny dots representing miniature human beings. This artist captures the gaze with his representation of vast spaces, cities or beaches that seem to engulf men, appearing minuscule in the vastness of the universe. Charles Fazzino, belonging to the modern American school, also fascinates with the dazzling execution of his 3D relief paintings that invite viewers to fly over the skyscrapers of New York or to walk through its crowded alleys.
Fulvio Codsi, an Italian painter, disorients us with his painting titled Altitudes, depicting women’s legs flying high in the sky as if to escape from the frame of the painting. Also astonishing is the painting installation, a subtle mix of sculpture and painting. Its colors give the impression of overflowing from the paint tubes in relief, flowing towards the ground.
This heterogeneous and playful amalgam of artistic works eventually leads us to pause in front of a reduced version of Rodin’s Thinker, which also invites itself to the gallery to transport us into a gentle reverie. This experience, to savor until February 28, 2024, is a striking artistic mishmash for a guaranteed “coup de cœur.”
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