Reem Bassous

Born 1978, Beirut. Currently lives and works in Honolulu, Hawaii.


Pablo Picasso once said that an artist is a political being, constantly aware of the heartbreaking, passionate, or delightful things that happen in the world. He continues, saying that painting is not done to decorate apartments, but rather it is an instrument of war.
I agree that painting should never be a decorative element, but rather than it being an instrument of war, perhaps it could be an instrument of constructive debate. A painting must be like a statement with magnetic force, drawing the viewer to it and divulging its secrets to anyone who gives it thought and time. There are too many paintings in the world, therefore what is being made presently cannot afford to be passive- it has the responsibility of elevating the viewer's perception and understanding, both about art and the world in which we live.
The paintings in this series are memory constructions of what it felt like to be in a war zone. They all tell the story of what I remember to be Beirut at various times during the civil war. Beyond subject matter, these paintings are very much about process, which at times included heavy sanding, soldering, burning, ripping and then reconstructing. Th...