Re-Imagining Beirut.

It is all about Beirut.
It’s about a city that is deep under my skin like an old, fading tattoo.
It’s about a love and hate relationship that has been going on for almost 47 years.

It is a map: A personal cartography. With an abstract approach, I tried to re-imagine the lace-like, labyrinth urban layouts of streets and buildings, almost chaotic yet so rich, like mapping out my experience in the city for all this time. A city razed so many times with so many wars, invasions and lately the terrifying August 4 explosion, but
somehow manage to rise again.

The works are an obsessive variation on the same theme. Each one bringing different emotions to the surface, conveyed in a different technique or media. The intricate labyrinth of the city, the many layers (both sociological and archeological), the sounds, smells, colors... all rendered in acrylic and mixed media for the larger pieces
and watercolor and ink for the more intimate sizes. Choosing watercolor as a primary medium helped me in creating magical color washes and layering of forms and colors.

- Wissam Beydoun