CHARBEL SAMUEL AOUNMULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST
Born in 1980, Charbel Samuel Aoun holds a master's degree in architecture(2004).During the following five years he worked as a conceptual designer in severalarchitectural firms in Beirut and explored the fields of audiovisual and theatre.At the same time, he started creating a wild garden, combining hundreds ofvarieties of plants and trees.
Relation with nature and the architectural experience pushed the artist towardworking with a variety of mediums such as wood sticks, manure, dust, anddiscarded objects.
Lebanon is very diverse culturally within the spatial dimension and emotionallythrough time. In each period social images tends to be both poetic andcatastrophic.That diversity resonates in the artist work through a variety of mediums fromdaily life uncovering emotions of the present as a trace of time and culture.
Several collectors and institutions such as the Royal Family of Emirates,Raymond Audi, Jean Marc Decrop, Abraham Karabajakian, and the TateModern museum collected the artist's work.He is currently represented by Mark Hachem Gallery (Beirut-Paris-New York).
CHARBEL SAMUEL AOUNMULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST
WORKS2006 - 2014
Out of Space2006-2007
In 2006, Israel bombed Lebanon. ManyLebanese wanted to flee but most of themwere unable to do so due to Visa issues. Thishighlighted the struggling human beings intheir own spaces towards brutal happeningsand more structured laws.The work presented an assemblage of well-structured orthogonal spaces in whichorganic human like tortured creatures tried toget out. They were sculpted with fire (meltedplastic) to express the suffering and death thatwere taking place, the color ended black dueto the process.The spaces were created starting with adrawing software as AutoCAD then executedusing Plexiglas and a laser cut machine inorder to emphasize our modern societies inwhich human beings must be structured.The works were exhibited in the Frenchcultural center in 2007.
Untitled70x160x60cm2006
Out of Space
Untitled80x130x30 cm2006
Out of Space
Untitled50x50x50 cm2007
Out of Space
Untitled80x50x20 cm2006
Out of Space
Beirut Mix2009
In 2009, manybuilding sites werenewly put up inBeirut. Capitalismwas at its peak. As isreaction to that, aseries of paintingswere made about thedifferences betweenthe social classes ofBeirut.
The artist alsocreated a stop motiondepicting the socialclasses' struggle,throughoutinstallations inmovement using oldand new shoes.
Beirut Mix
Concrete InvasionPaint on Canvas120x60cm2009
Carnivor ArchitecturePaint on Canvas120x60cm2009
Beirut Mix
UndergroundPaint on Canvas120x60cm2009
Night-LifePaint on Canvas120x60cm2009
Beirut Mix
Social ClassStop Motion2009
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ohgqitzhfumsz0y/WE0xwBvZIx#lh:null-social%20class.movWatch Video
Pulse2011
Right before the!Arab Springs", andafter visiting Egyptand Syria, a series ofpaintings was createdin order to reflectthe poverty and thesocial tensions of themass population. Aflow of people wereinvading the space ofthe canvas, all withan expression ofmisery and a desireof change.This collection wasexhibited at ArtspaceGallery-Dubaibeginning 2011.
Pulse
Fragmented SocietyPaint on Canvas185x185cm2010
Pulse
Fragmented SocietyPaint on Canvas185x185cm2010
Pulse
TranscendancePaint on Canvas185x185cm2010
Pulse
Supper of PovertyPaint on Canvas135x200cm2010
Pulse
Le SouciPaint on Canvas120x120cm2010
Pulse
Dregs of HumanityPaint on Canvas135x200cm2010
Lost Spring2012
While the international mediawas still talking about Arabsprings and people were goingto more radicalism, the artistwanted to invite them towardsanother reality, that of nature, a!Lost Spring".Using natural medium such ascotton and wood sticks mixedwith colors, the artist createdatmospheres exploring thehuman emotions throughnature: death, hope, survival,depression#The work stands as a mirror ofthe society expressed in adifferent reality, one that hasalways been present in the aside.This collection was exhibited atSmoGallery-Beirut -2012.
Lost Spring
Oreganum SyriacumMixed Media on Canvas150x150cm2012
Lost Spring
Blue TripMixed Media on Canvas200x200cm2012
Lost Spring
The WindMixed Media on Canvas150x150cm2012
Lost Spring
Imprint of TimeMixed Media on Canvas200x300cm2012
Lost Spring
RebirthNatural Wooden Sticks280x280x200cm2012
104532012
10453 is a play about life in1km2 of trash. It refers to theactual size ofLebanon (10,452 km2 +1 km2).The show was meant to beperformed in the streets and isessentially very visual, focusing ondaily behaviours and poeticscenes.Charbel Samuel Aoun made thescenography and presented someimages in collaboration withwriter and director CamilleBrunel.The set was entirely made ofdiscarded objects and materials.10453 is a BIM Projectproduction and was toured on theSeaside of Tyr, Saida and Beirut(Lebanon) in 2012.
10453
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGkQTe3MQ-AWatch Video
10453
10453 Final Scene
Anti Carnivor2012
As a reaction to anorder placed by adesigner for a burgerrestaurant in Beirut,who planned to hanga cow's head as part ofthe interior design,the artist wanted tobring the whole cowalong with itsatmosphere and itscontextual material:he chose the cowmanure as a statementagainst the image ofcow as part of a diet.The work was refusedand the artist kept thework.
Anti Carnivor
Cow Manure120x60x60cm2012
Friendly Gas2013
Friendly gas was meant to beexhibited in Qatar at the Tasmeemdesign art fair-2013 (made inQatar).The artist decided to question therelation people have with gas, andtherefore they were invited to smellit; an experience that produced fearand hesitation in societies where gasplays a crucial role in their economy.However, once they did smell, theydiscovered the scent of oud (oldQatary perfume). Its presence wasmeant to question the relationbetween the senses and also tocontrast experiences from the pastand the present in one singlemoment.The installation was produced byAnima Gallery-Doha.
Friendly Gas
Garbagescape2013
Garbagescape contrasts the modern humanintervention with the pure state of Nature.It points out the transformation of our landscapes dueto our behaviour and reactions towards natural spaces.Shoes collected from the garbage mountain of Saidawere used as a medium to gradually invade dead sticks'structures on 3 phases, then exhibited in glass boxes.Under these boxes one hundred plant of oreganumsyriacum (aromatic native plant known as zaatar) wereplaced and contrasted with the visual of garbage(shoes).Inside the middle box, two microphones were installedand they were connected to headphones. When theviewer put them, he discovers a track contrasting bothsounds of nature and human interventions in the city(All sounds were registered In Lebanon).The artist wanted to make from the contrast betweenhuman actions and nature a multisensory experience forthe viewer.Garbagescape was exhibited at Beirut Art Fair-2013.
Garbagescape
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDstOjToKmIWatch Video
Voice of the Invisibles2013
Twelve analog phones were hanged on a wall.The phones were connected with a telephone exchanger linked toa computer with a software that triggers the calls. The softwarewas able to manage 4 calls simultaneously.During the time of the installation, the phones ring, thespectator picks up...then he's suddenly immersed in the voice ofa person who is telling his story and testifying about moments inhis life.Amal, Fayçal, Caroline, Wadih, Khaled, Élies, Hana, Lina, Marie,Michel, Muhamad and Yussef are aged between 13 and 75. Mostof them are Syrians or Lebanese from Syrian origins, and theyallow us to listen to their stories. A family life, a love story, apresent reality, a sad statement, a testimony; each of them haslived a drama, a tragedy. Each of them carries a scar, alive orasleep, connected to the reality of this region. These peopletestify about a reality they are no longer in controle...!Voice of the Invisibles"was exhibited at Mediterranea 16-YoungMediterranean Artists Biennial.Artistic collaboration: Camille BrunelSoftware Design: Dr.Chafik Mokbel
Voice of the Invisibles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixv7iHHk1M4Watch Video
From the Dust2013
!From the Dust"is a collectionof paintings made entirely of thedust collected in the streets ofBeirut.Ever since the war began inSyria, Lebanon has been quiteaffected. The conflict spread,and more than a million Syrianrefugees, many families,children, and lonely men, arenow invading the public gardensand staying in the streets ofBeirut.It is the dusty world of thepeople, the fear, the loss and thedestruction, that the artistexpresses.He invites the viewer to enterthe world of those refugees for abetter understanding of War.
From the Dust
Everything LostDust on Koran Papers200x100cm2013
The Last MomentDust on Canvas200x100cm2013
From the Dust
Le PenseurDust on Koran Papers130x90cm2013
From the Dust
Social MiseryDust on Canvas100x200cm2013
From the Dust
On The Public BenchDust on Koran Papers100x200cm2013
You maybe Next2014
With the rise of terrorism in the Middle East (Iraq$Syria- Lebanon), lot ofexplosions and terrorist attacks happened recently mainly in public places. Anyidentified parked car scared people as they became very cautious from potentialbombs.The installation is about sharing that fear. Using objects from daily life- objectspeople recognize-the artist recreate the experience of taking the risk.A gas bottle is hanged from the ceiling oppositely above a fire stove. It gives theimpression of a potential explosion leaving the viewer between looking at theexhibited object and running away from it.That fear reintroduces the present social feeling of every person risking his lifeon the streets to survive.P.s: after doing many tests and trials in a gas factory, physically there's no riskon the viewer. Still it generates that feeling as an experience.Technical description:A gas bottle is hanged from ceiling with 4 thin metallic cables, around the gasbottle is attached 3 metallic strips that goes down to hold a gas stove.The gas bottle is connected to the stove with a copper pipe that goes inside thebottle to reach the highest point avoiding being filled by gas liquid. Thedistance between the stove and the bottle is fixed on 40cm in relation to amaximum temperature of 60 degrees.
You maybe Next
You maybe NextInstallation - 2014work in progress
Solo Exhibitions:
2012 Lost Spring $ Smo Gallery-Beirut2011 Pulse - Art Space Gallery, Dubai2010 Flows $Art Lounge, Beirut2009 Beirut Mix $Zico House, Hamra2007 Out of Space $ French Cultural Center-Beirut2005 Demonstrations $ADG Art Center - Beirut
Collective Exhibitions:
2013 Beirut Artfair- Garbagescape -Biel, Beirut2013 ! jeux de la francophonie-Nice"- representing Lebanon in painting-
Special mention of the jury2013 Biennale of Mediterranean artists-Voice OfThe Invisibles-Ancone, Italy.2013 Residency in Caos museum-Terni-Italy2013 « twelve »-Mark Hachem artgallery-Beirut2013Tasmeem Doha design fair-Friendly Gas2012 Set design!10453-a story about life in 1km2 of trash"2012 Beirut Artfair- Biel, Beirut2012 Salon d'Automne $Beirut Exhibition Center-organized by Sursock Museum2012 Ipanam-villa Zein, Beirut Downtown-organized by Hamazkayin Art gallery2012 Pied D'oeuvres $ Smogallery, Karantina-Beirut2011 Art Expo, Istanbul2010 Lebanese Art Diaspora $Beirut Dome, Beirut Downtown
Tribute to the Martyrs $Hamazkayin Art GalleryTear down the Walls $Art Space Gallery, Dubai
2009 Salon d'Automne $ Sursock MuseumRaja Nehme Sertin Art GalleryCulture and Identity $Haigazian University
2006 La Peinture des Architectes $Paul Guiragossian Museum2004 Lebanese YoungTalents Exhibition organized by the European Union.