ZEINA BARAKEH
Au contact de la toile Zeina Barakeh se transforme en une extension physique de ses humeurs.
De facon spontanée, elle extirpe la peinture de ses tubes et expérimente différentes techniques. Petit à petit les lignes deviennent formes. De ces formes abstraites apparaissent des visages de femmes. Sauvages et tendres, femme-enfant séductrices, féminines et félines, elles sont, à travers leurs expressions, representées dans leur plus profonde intimité.
Leurs regards aux pupilles noires et dilatées semblent fixer le spectateur. A travers ce regard sincère et familier l’artiste se tend son propre miroir; ces femmes sont ses autoportraits.
En donnant libre cours à ses émotions, Zeina Barakeh a opté pour une peinture spontanée et subjective, une recherche plastique exigeante sous laquelle on peut lire une quête de soi.
Née à Beyrouth en 1972, Zeina Barakeh obtient en 1994 un diplôme à LAU en architecture d’interieur et le prix Sheikh Zayed en arts plastiques.
Elle participe à une residence d’artiste au Vermont Studio Center aux Etats-Unis en 2001 et 2004 grâce à une bourse d’artiste.
Depuis 1994, Zeina Barakeh partage son temps entre l’enseignement et la peinture. Elle a participé à plusieurs expositions collectives. “Facettes” est sa première exposition individuelle.
As she approaches her canvas she transforms herself into a physical extension of her inner mood.
She spontaneously squirts paint from bottles, prints with rollers and creates a variety of textures. Lines start to intersect. From formlessness, portraits of women begin to take shape. She represents a whole spectrum of women, each in her own version. Wild yet tender, childish yet seductive, sometimes bestial other times very feminine, they are all depicted in their most intimate state. Their body language is highly communicative. Their pupils are dilated and dark. They appear to be gazing deeply into the viewer's eyes. Through this sincere and familiar stare the artist seems to be having a look at herself through her own mirror. She is unconsciously painting herself.
By choosing to give priority to her emotions, Zeina Barakeh has opted for a spontaneous and subjective art, more adequate to reveal her own truth.
Born in Beirut in 1972, Zeina Barakeh has obtained a degree in interior design and the Sheikh Zayed Award for Fine Arts from the Lebanese American University in 1994.
She received an artist's grant award for a one-month residency program at the Vermont Studio Center in 2001 and 2004, in order to develop her art. Since her graduation Zeina Barakeh has been sharing her time between teaching and painting and participated in numerous group exhibitions. “Facets” is her first solo exhibition.
