LEBANESE ARTIST BETS ON WOMEN, HORSES AND THE SUN – AND WINS
By Daniella Matar
Special to The Daily Star
The Daily Star. Lebanon
June 22 2006
Hrair’s work, which has made its way to royal families and celebrities,
gets Beirut retrospective
Interview
BEIRUT: "Woman is the mistress, the lover, the mother," enthuses the
one-name-only, subtly cross-dressing artist known as Hrair. "She is
all these beautiful feelings you have, you know. She is the mother,
she is life for me. She is honored in all my paintings." Hrair was
born in Lebanon of Armenian origin. He studied art at the Lebanese
Academy of Fine Art (ALBA) and in 1964 he won three gold medals for
a set of tapestries he made for the Presidential Palace in Baabda.
Hrair went on to win numerous accolades and celebrity commissions.
Queen Elizabeth II has one of his paintings and a number of other
royals have collected his work – including the royal families of
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Hrair’s extensive client list includes Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn
and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, among others. Finally, after so much
fanfare, Hrair’s market savvy work is the subject of a retrospective
in Beirut, at Piece Unique in Saifi Village.
In the gallery, the artist’s thick and vibrant colors practically
jump off his canvases. Figurative horses leap around majestically.
Women gaze beatifically and mysteriously out at the viewer. Welcome
to the world of Hrair.
First and foremost, the artist says, "I’m a colorist. I like colors.
Through colors I can express myself."
Running through the symbols that are always present but ever-changing
in his work, he continues: "You’ll always see there are the ladies,
the horses. The flowers are new, it’s a still-life, and even the
women have changed. They are more contemporary, more modern."
Hrair is indeed famed for those horses. "I like horses," he says
simply. "I think it’s a wonderful subject for any artist. Through this
subject you can express a lot of feeling. You have the movement,
you have the beauty, you have the light, you have the death –
everything. It’s really one of my favorite subjects. And it’s the
symbol of the Arab world."
It is the women, however, who really draw one’s attention to Hrair’s
paintings. The paleness of their skin contrasts vividly with the bold,
bright colors of their clothes and surroundings, ensuring that the
observer’s eyes are instantly, irresistibly drawn to their serene,
beatific expressions.
A lesser-known symbol, which nevertheless figures in nearly all
Hrair’s work, is the sun.
"There is always the sun in my painting" he confirms. "There is this
round – life, death, life, death, life, death. Life goes round and
round – there’s always hope in my paintings. I’m a very cheerful
person. I’m not negative, and my paintings reflect that. People say
my work is dreamy, but sometimes you need to take [a few] seconds
to dream."
Hrair’s retrospective has given his an opportunity to reflect on
his career.
"I was born a painter, an artist," he says. "When I was five, six,
I used to draw and when I was nine I used to paint. I used to do
portraits and I always wanted to be an artist and a painter. The most
difficult [thing] was to have your own style. I’m not influenced by
any other painter or any other artist. I was influenced by my origins,
my orthodox origins, the church, the Arabic origins, the Oriental
decoration, the Islamic art, the sun.
"That’s why I had this success here, because they say it’s like one
thousand and one nights, you know. It has that richness and the colors.
"I was inspired [by] all the civilizations that passed through Lebanon
[and] the Middle East. I was inspired by the icons, the Byzantine art
– there you see that feeling, that precious feeling, [through the use
of] gold leaf. Sometimes the subject is not very important," he adds,
returning to his favorite theme. "It’s the colors."
There is one painting at Piece Unique that marks a sharp departure
for Hrair, a depiction of the Beirut skyline.
"It’s the way I see it, the way I know it," he says. "I was born in
this area and it was in my childhood background."
The painting in question is bright and beautiful, but unlike most of
his other pieces, it has very blurred edges.
Hrair explains: "I’ve always had this feeling. [The painting is]
in a fog, you know, but [Beirut for me] is like this."
Hrair’s retrospective at Piece Unique in Saifi Village is on view
through June 24. For more information, please call +961 1 975 655.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
