The space to bloom

BY SALEH BARAKAT

Saleh Barakat is a Beirutbased gallerist who specialises in modern and contemporary art from the Arab world. He founded Agial Art Gallery (1991) and Saleh Barakat Gallery (2016) where he hosts an extensive programme of exhibitions and events. He has also curated exhibitions elsewhere, including The Road to Peace (2009) at the Beirut Art Centre, retrospectives of Saloua Raouda Choucair (2013), Michel Basbous (2014) and Jean Boghossian (2015) at the Beirut Exhibition Centre, and he co-curated the first national pavilion for Lebanon at the 52nd Venice Biennale, as well as the itinerant exhibition Mediterranean Crossroads, in collaboration with Martina Corgnati and the Italian ministry of foreign affairs and Shafic Abboud (2013). He has lectured at Princeton University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum and Christie’s Education in Dubai, and he currently lectures at ALBA and USJ in Beirut. He served on the steering committee of the Arts Centre at the American University of Beirut, and on the founding committee of the Saradar Collection. He has been a board member of the National UNESCO since 2015 and currently serves on the advisory board of the School of Architecture and Design at the Lebanese American University. In 2006, he was nominated as a Yale World Fellow.

As Michel Basbous was one of the forefathers of Lebanese modernity, visiting his wife, Thérèse Aouad Basbous, the custodian of the estate, was inevitable. Back then, Anachar was a shy young man studying decorative arts, and dreaming of creating mosaics. My visit developed into a mutual appreciation with Thérèse Aouad Basbous, a grand lady who consciously sacrificed her own career, first for the love of her husband, then later for her son. From that time my visits to Rachana became a regular pilgrimage. One day in the mid-1990s, Anachar came to Agial to proudly announce his debut as an artist with an interest in public spaces, through the installation of two large mosaics on the facade of Al Mabani building on Abdel Aziz Street. Later, he was commissioned to create a large mural for a major restaurant in downtown Beirut.

Although Anachar showed an interest in sculpture, with a father as famous as Michel it was challenging to determine his own style. In addition, he was taking on the responsibility of the estate, trying to keep the memory of his father alive.

During a heartfelt conversation one day, I bluntly told him that he could not develop his own career while taking care of his father’s estate because of the conflict of interest. We ended up agreeing that we would work together on organising a retrospective for Michel Basbous, but on one condition: that afterwards he would devote himself fully to his own career as a sculptor. This conversation culminated in a major retrospective for Michel in 2014 at the now defunct Beirut Exhibition Centre.

I humbly believe it was one of the best shows to have taken place at this venue in terms of curation and staging. Relieved of the homage to be paid to the father, Anachar worked with impressive perseverance on developing his own style, distancing himself from the stigmatising mark of the Basbous brothers. His major solo show at Saleh Barakat Gallery in 2018 was indelible proof that a new star was born. Soon after, it became clear to us that public sculptures need space, and the decision to build an atelier and a sculpture park to showcase the voluminous artworks imposed itself as evidence.

Anachar bought a piece of land just down the road from the family estate, on which he conceived a project.

However, as soon as he started working, he discovered that the land had been a former “rejmeh”, a form of historical graveyard of stones piled up by peasants while clearing their agricultural land. Instead of removing the stones, Anachar made some changes to his original plan and took the mesmerising decision to “carve” them in his own way, paving the way for his first masterpiece of land art, probably his largest complete oeuvre.

In the middle of economic collapse and state failure, the opening of MAB, the acronym of “Mohtaraf Anachar Basbous” (Atelier Anachar Basbous), represents the epitome of the wonders that a truly passionate artist is capable of making against all odds. It makes us all very proud of what one person singlehandedly can give to his country, just like his father before him, transforming Rachana into a hub of beauty and creation. I feel particularly blessed to have witnessed the blossoming of this shy young adolescent, whom I first met 32 years ago, into an accomplished master sculptor who will undoubtedly leave his mark on the sculpture scene for many generations to come.

Anachar Basbous’s exhibition

Saleh Barakat Gallery, 2018.

Anachar.tel un satellite tournant autour de son orbite….décryptant Astres et Planètes…

Un univers de lumière se projetant sur la matière……

Ses carrières de pierre sont inépuisables…pierres que sa main polit jusqu’à l’extrême graine de leur nature.

Son terrain scintille d’acier et de fer rouillé de réelle texture…

Le bois s’habille de voluptueuses teintes rares et précieuses…

Le béton ….même le béton acquiert ses lettres de noblesse entre ses mains de magicien…

Le Basalt redécouvre son magnétisme ferrugineux ne reniant jamais ses origines Volcaniques….

Le soleil se mire dans son marbre à la peau si douce…si éclatante de blancheur…

Anachar se renouvelle avec chaque matière qu’il touche et ennoblit…

Son inspiration jaillit d’une source mystérieuse intarissable…

Ludiques sont ses sculptures …témoin de son bonheur au travail…

Ses sculptures s’amusent entre elles à decliner leur nature et leur identité….

Thérese Aouad Basbous Rachana, 16 octobre 2015