Biography
Born in Lebanon in 1942, Chaouki Chamoun studied Fine Art at the Lebanese University, and received his MFA from Syracuse University in New York. Between 1975 and 1979, Cahmoun continued his studies in Aesthetics and Studio Art at New York University where he was a full time fellow in the PhD programme. His large-scale, colourful paintings are mostly inspired by landscapes that range from the expanse of the Arabian desert to the urban jungle of New York, and the mountains of the Bekaa Valley where he was born and raised. In his series Desert Experience (2007-8), Chamoun looked to the boundless geographical terrain of the desert as a site of purity and simplicity, offering an escape from the political turmoil Lebanon was facing following the July War of 2006. In 2013 a major exhibition of his work was held at the Beirut Exhibition Centre, the same year he published an artistic autobiography titled The Art and Life of Chaouki Chamoun, which contained over 300 illustrations accompanied by anecdotes, personal narratives and details of his creative process.
Artwork
