Golden Cage Painting

I'm based in Beirut and London. I've worked and exhibited across Europe, America, Cuba, the Middle East, India and the Far East. I trained as an architect, and this has influenced my interest in expressing light and space in my work. It has also informed my interest in the texture of materials. I make sketches from life, and often supported by photos, filter these experiences through memory in the studio. I combine textures and techniques, from thick oils to thin watercolour washes. Paint is brushed, dripped, flicked, scraped and slashed to achieve varying illusions of space. The foundation of my work is about capturing the mood of places, and how to respond to the environment that I'm in. There are underlying emotional charges in the paintings. I mix visions abandonment and trash with symbols of joy and leisure. I find symbolism within the detritus of urban matter, choosing motifs which have ambiguous meanings. I'm interested in layers of time and the coexistence of opposites. I blur the boundaries between figuration and abstraction in the dense textures of paint, and where appropriate blur the boundaries between the 2 dimensional surface of paintings with 3 dimensional space that the work hangs in. Places that evoke a sense of longing interest me- for a golden age that has been lost and for a dreamed of future. There is beauty to be found in a sense of longing. It can be desperate and violent, following a traumatic event, becoming quiet and melancholic as the pain diffuses. I believe in the transformative power of painting in confronting loss. For me, painting is an alchemical meditation. By harnessing uncomfortable emotions and channeling the chaos around me, the act of painting and the completed work can be positive and life-affirming for both myself and the viewer.