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From July 18 to 31, 2024, the exhibition Roofs of the City by Maral Der Boghossian invites us on a captivating pictorial journey over the rooftops of Beirut. A vibrant ode to the city, filled with nostalgia and an explosion of colors.
This summer, the Beirut art scene will be marked by a significant event: Maral Der Boghossian’s solo exhibition, Roofs of the City, presented from July 18 to 31, 2024, at KOHAR Artisan Book Bindery. An ambitious project conducted in tandem with her sister Nanor, a graphic designer, and supported by BERYT-CCI, which promises to reveal all the poetry and luminosity of the artist’s perspective on her city.
The opening reception, scheduled for July 17 from 5 PM to 9 PM, will kick off this immersion into Maral Der Boghossian’s fascinating universe. Visitors can then discover the exhibition on weekdays from 12 PM to 6 PM and on Saturdays from 10 AM to 1 PM (closed on Sundays), with parking available to facilitate their visit. A unique opportunity to be carried away by the unique vision of this accomplished artist, who gracefully and sensitively sublimates the urban landscapes of Beirut.
But who is Maral Der Boghossian, this artist who celebrates the rooftops and facades of the Lebanese capital with such poetry? Born in Paris in 1976 to Lebanese Armenian parents, Maral seems to carry within her the echoes of a painful family history. Her work draws its roots from a childhood marked by the fear of losing her home, an inheritance of transgenerational traumas linked to the Armenian genocide and the Lebanese civil war. A silent anxiety that has shaped her view of the city and her deep attachment to these places that embody stability and security.
Yet, the bird’s-eye views of Beirut’s rooftops also awaken in Maral unsuspected sweet memories, like fragments of happiness nestled at the heart of the turmoil. In this duality between the shadow of loss and the light of refuge, the artist has woven an unbreakable bond with these urban landscapes that tell her intimate story. Each facade, each window, each tile becomes under her brush the receptacle of an emotion, a slice of life, a fiercely preserved hope.
It is in Bourj Hammoud, her adopted neighborhood, that Maral Der Boghossian finds daily inspiration. By immortalizing on canvas the facades of this neighborhood where her ancestors settled over 80 years ago, fleeing the genocide, she outlines the contours of her inner haven. A creative process that begins in her sketchbooks, filled with urban views sketched on the fly during her wanderings, and which she sometimes captures with her camera. So many milestones that then nourish her studio work, where she recomposes these fragments of reality into vibrant and sincere paintings.
Light, a true common thread in Maral Der Boghossian’s work, occupies a prominent place in her artistic process. Like a storyteller, she carefully chooses specific hours when the facades are adorned with the most beautiful shades under the afternoon sun. A dazzling palette reminiscent of that of Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, the undisputed master of the Barbizon school. It was, in fact, by studying one of his emblematic works, Le Pont de Mantes, that the young artist refined her eye, mastering the subtleties of light and the enigmatic atmosphere of suburban landscapes. A revelation that has permanently guided her pictorial research.
The universe of Edward Hopper, the American master of silent cities and solitary characters, also found a deep echo in Maral Der Boghossian. But while she shares with the painter a fascination for the play of shadows and lights that sculpt the facades, there is no trace of his signature melancholy in the luminous and reassuring paintings of the Lebanese artist. In Maral’s work, the city is never a place of solitude or alienation but rather a space of comfort and softness, like a protective cocoon to retreat from the world’s turmoil.
The exhibition Roofs of the City is also the result of an artistic collaboration between Maral Der Boghossian and her sister Nanor, a graphic designer based in Beirut. Nanor played a crucial role in highlighting Maral’s paintings, combining and interpreting different levels of urban and suburban landscapes, emphasizing the various layers of emotions and movements the artist depicted on her canvas. Together, the two sisters have created a unique synergy, where brushstrokes, color choices, and compositions merge to create a visual poetry that speaks to the viewer without uttering a word.
Distinguished among 92 projects by a grant from BERYT as part of World Bank funding, the Roofs of the City exhibition marks a crucial milestone in the journey of this singular artist. With her meticulous illustrative style, delicate lines, and soothing colors, Maral Der Boghossian transcends her personal history to offer us a dreamy and serene vision of Beirut’s rooftops. A sensitive work that oscillates between figuration and abstraction, between reality and imagination, inviting us to look anew at this undeniably charming city.
Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/BEoxpUG2vNvJc2fE8
