Ayman Baalbaki

Ayman Baalbaki was born in Adeisseh in 1975, the same year the Lebanese civil war began. A lot of his work tackles this conflict and its aftermath. It looks at destruction, displacement, loss, identity, and collective memory. Baalbaki is best-known for his large-scale paintings, executed primarily in thick acrylic paint, distinct for their sense of organised chaos. The paintings depict Beirut’s urban environment, the city’s demolished structures, bombed suburbs and iconic buildings. His work is recognisable by the distinctive Baalbaki brushwork and the colossal scale of the paintings. The intent to capture the destabilising effects of war extends to his installation work, often incorporating neon signs into the pieces. The artist remains a prominent force in the contemporary Lebanese art scene. He studied at the Lebanese University in Beirut and at the Ecole nationale supérieure des art décoratifs in Paris. The installation “Janus Gate” presented at the Lebanese pavilion for the 59th Venice Biennale was the piece chosen as the artistic representation of Lebanese arts in 2022. The artist currently lives and works in Beirut.