Leading the Middle East contemporary art scene with the mission to “promote the Arab World’s dynamic cultural scene at home and abroad”,  Ayyam Gallery returns for the 3rd edition of the Beirut Art Fair with a special exhibition dedicated to prominent and promising emerging talents from Lebanon. Displaying a superior array of visually intriguing photography, video, and installation art, Ayyam Gallery’s booth is sure to captivate visitors to this year’s fair!

An Elephant, Heartbeat, Digital Fantasy & Electricty Gone Wild!

Bringing together a large stanless steel elephant, a butterfly in a glass box, a trip to digital fantasy, a neon long night and more in one booth; Ayyam Gallery is definitly going to trigger viewers curiosity & sense of beauty over the displayed artworks. Don’t miss the first public viewing of a monumental three-meter stainless steel sculpture titled Grandfather Elephant by renowned Lebanese artist and architect Nadim Karam, alongside deputing two emerging lebanese artist Lara Zankoul & Inaya Fanis Hodeib.

Lara Zankoul, a talented photographer from the Shabab Ayyam incubator programme and one of the winners of the 2011 Shabab Ayyam Photography Competition, will debut a new multimedia work incorporating HD video and digital printing, which is characteristic of her feminine style and dreamlike compositions. A young woman clad in white holds in her lap a butterfly trapped within a glass jar. The wings of the butterfly beat continuously in this still world while the colors pervading the piece, the red lacquer of her fingernails, vivid azure of the insect and the overwhelmingly white ground, are quite symbolic and suggestive of a bottled hope.

Inaya Fanis Hodeib, an emerging painter and digital artist whose work and exceptional talent bridges the gaps between fantasy and realism, will debut her proficiency with two large-scale oil on canvas works, ‘Thirteenth Step’ and ‘One Bullet at a Time’. Finely executed aggressive canines confront the viewer and their rendering will have viewers lingering over Hodeib’s superb command of technique.

 
Joining ranks with artists such as Tracey Emin and Bruce Nauman who utilized neon in their works, Pierre Koukjian employs neon to explore the potential of language in his works, ‘Igit il Kahraba, Rahit il  Kahraba’ (‘Electricity On, Electricity Off’) and ‘Ya Leil Ma Atwalak’ (‘Oh Night its been too long!’). In his own script, ‘Ya Leil Ma Atwalak’ can be considered a scream in any oppressed situation, which breaks forth as a sudden burst. Though a scream of suffering, it is also one that is filled with hope for a solution. With their brightly colored auras, the texts glow forth, strongly impressing their message upon audiences.

 About Ayyam Gallery

Since opening in 2006 Ayyam Gallery has become one of the most prominent galleries in the Middle East, with four exhibition spaces throughout the region, notably in Syria, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. Ayyam Gallery proudly represents some of today’s most recognized emerging and established Arab artists. For more information|: www.ayyamgallery.com/

Cheers