MANUELLA GUIRAGOSSIAN – BIOGRAPHY

AZG DAILY
21-03-2009

Culture

Born on November 6, 1972 in Beirut, Lebanon. Manuella is the youngest
daughter of Celebrated Artist & Painter Paul Guiragossian.

Growing up in her father’s studio, it was no coincidence that Manuella
was destined to be drawn into the world of art, design and as fate
would have it, a passion for animation developed through many wonderful
stories and tales related to her in illustration by her father.

In 1989 Manuella traveled to Paris with her father for his exhibition
at UNESCO, conflict broke out in Beirut and they were forced to
stay and eventually live in Paris. Not one to sit by idly whilst her
homeland was in the midst of a civil war, she developed 13 character
designs named "Les Archifous" for a children’s play based on the
creations of Lebanese author Michel Khattar. An exhibition and a play
of these characters was held in "La Defense" in Paris. The success
of the exhibition meant that "Les Archifous" were exhibited at the
Festival de bandes Dessinees in the French Cultural Center of Beirut
in 1991. That same year, Manuella returned to Lebanon.

However, the sudden death of her father in 1993 saw Manuella work
closely with her family at the Emmagoss Art Gallery, a family-owned
business situated on the outskirts of Beirut in Zalka. One of the
Gallery’s missions was to preserve and extend her father’s legacy.

She fulfilled one of her long term ambitions in the summer of 1997 when
she moved to California and enrolled into the California Institute
of the Arts, A school founded by Walt Disney in 1969, also known as
Calarts. Over the next 4 years and despite her hectic curriculum,
she participated in several art festivals, exhibitions and shows
in Los Angeles and Beirut. The highlight of which was "Mythes &
Légendes", her first solo show at Emmagoss Art Gallery in 2000. The
work covered mythology and legends from the ancient Phoenician, Greek
and Egyptian civilizations. The show attracted wide press coverage
and admirable reviews.

In between shows, Manuella created 4 animated films at Calarts. Her
confident approach, attention to detail and constructive work earned
her the respect and admiration of her fellow classmates, professors
and not surprisingly a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Video degree,
specialized in Character Animation.

Manuella is currently based between Dubai and Beirut since 2003
and has curated several exhibitions for her father and brothers as
well as representing their works. Her studio is in Beirut and after
2006 she began working on a new series of paintings inspired by the
cities she’s resided in wich she started exhibiting in Art Paris in
Abu Dhabi in November 2008 and currently is are being exhibited in
Bait Muzna Gallery in Oman in a solo show from the 25th ofJanuary to
the 12 of February 2009.

Furthermore, Manuella is working on what she likes to refer to as her
life-long project: Produce her father’s biography in words and vision.