Born in 1957, Hanibal Srouji is a Lebanese artist based in Beirut. He holds a master’s degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University in Canada (1987). He had held different teaching positions at universities in the United States, Canada and France before joining the Lebanese American University in 2010; where he holds today the position of Associate Professor. He has held numerous solo and collective exhibitions, namely “Into the clouds” and “The Mac International first open art prize” in Belfast, Ireland, in 2014. He was featured by Galerie Janine Rubeiz at the “Singapore Art fair”, “Art Dubai”, “Abu-Dhabi Art” and “Art14 London.” His work has been acquired by prominent public and private collections, such as the “Alcan Collection” in Canada, the “Carmignac Foundation” in France. In 2013, Galerie Janine Rubeiz, representing him in Lebanon since 1997, published a book titled: “Hanibal Srouji: painting fire, water, earth and air.” He is also represented by June Kelly Gallery in New York and Galerie Eulenspiegel in Basel.
About his work
Hanibal’s artistic trajectory addresses notions of memory, exile and above all: Healing. Srouji is known for his surface paintings. They stand apparently for abstractions; yet, they reveal physical scars of conflict, as they also address temporalities between a past nostalgia, a precipitating present and a distant future and negotiate terms of engagement without pathos. The dispersion deployed onto the canvas is not only a material trace but also the symbolic form of social phenomena that confirms the artist’s notes that “painting is a necessity” and his work is “always linked to the history of Lebanon and to the Middle East in general.”
2003-04-12
2003-04-03
