PHOENICIA ART COLLECTION
Viewing internationally recognized Fine Art in a hotel space was a first for Lebanon, especially that promising young talents have the opportunity to examine & contemplate the ART Collection
Andy Goldsworthy
Biography
Born in 1956 in Cheshire, Andy Goldsworthy is an extraordinary, innovative British artist whose collaborations with nature produce uniquely personal and intense artworks.
The Artist’s Work
By exposing the trials he encounters before a final work is considered complete, Goldsworthy renders the artist a humble element of a greater sum; just as man himself finds his role on earth.
Catherine Yass
Biography
Catherine Yass was born in 1963 in London and in her early years lived in Hampstead. She later studied at the Slade School of Art, London (1982-1986) and then at Hochschule der Künste, Berlin (1984-1985).
The Artist’s Work
Photography is the medium for which Yass is known. Her work can be found in a number of public collections including the British Council, Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Gallery, and the Government Art Collection.
Doris Riachi
Biography
Doris was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. She lived in Paris for several years before moving to England in 1979. Married with three daughters, she lives and works in Central London. Her interest in art began at a young age.
The Artist’s Work
Doris’ early work is dominated by still lives and figurative paintings: mainly worked in oils on canvas, but also including many works on paper. Over the years her style has become progressively more abstract.
Howard Hodgkin
Biography
Born in 1932, Howard Hodgkin is a British painter and printmaker. His work is most often associated with abstraction.
The Artist’s Work
The vivid hues that sweep across the wooden background make it impossible not to be drawn to a Hodgkin work. Having been captivated by Venice, Hodgkin went on to produce a series of paintings with links to the city.
Ian McKeever
Biography
Born 1946, Withernsea, England Ian McKeever’s first contact with professional artists was in 1969, when he rented a studio from SPACE, an artists’ collective working at St. Katherine’s Dock, in the heart of London’s dockland.
The Artist’s Work
In 2002, McKeever takes doorways and thresholds as his theme & gives each a feeling of emanating light. McKeever is also known for his printmaking, having worked in etching, dry point, woodcut and lithography.
Ingrid Shaker Nessman
The Artist’s Work
Although artist Ingrid Shaker – Nessmann passed away in 2004, her spirit lives on through her art works, examples of which can be seen at the Phoencia Hotel.
Jamil Molaeb
Biography
Born in Beyssour, Lebanon, Molaeb is a curious mixture of a thinker and mystic. He shows throughout his abstract work his interest in the Druze cabalistic tradition and the way it conflates notions of boundless space with divine light.
The Artist’s Work
Growing up in Lebanon, Molaeb was immersed in a world of colors from an early age. As an artist, he is mostly drawn to working in oil, mainly on canvas, & has produced a wide body of work that encompasses the abstract.
Jan Dibbets
Biography
Born 1941, Weert, Netherlands Lives in Amsterdam, studies at St Martin’s School of Art in London; since 1984 Professor at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf; lives and works in Amsterdam and San Casciano Bagni.
The Artist’s Work
The point where the sky touches the sea has been an inspiration to man since the beginning of time & for Dibbets this inspiration has helped forge a career. Today he is most known for the medium of photography.
Jason Martin
Biography
Martin lives and works in London. He is a foremost painter of monochromatic, sculptural abstraction. By limiting himself to the simple activity of meandering liquid inks, Martin attempts to surf the duality of intention & serendipity.
The Artist’s Work
Many have sought to label Martin an artist that works in monochrome. Much like the art he produces, the truth lies beyond the surface. He is an imaginative colorist, using tones to fill his work with a sense of mood.
Mona Bassili Sehnaoui
Biography
Lebanese artist, Bassili worked in the mediums of painting and lithography has garnered her international acclaim, won a number of prizes, and earned 14 solo exhibitions & a plethora of group exhibitions to her name.
The Artist’s Work
The gouache painting that hang in the Hotel is inspired by Caucasian carpets, carpets of wanderers. It is also reminiscent of the days of caravans when carpets were easily rolled up and carried from place to place.
Paul Morrison
Biography
Paul Morrison was born in Liverpool in 1966. He studied at Hugh Baird College Liverpool 1983-85, Sheffield City Polytechnic 1985-88 and Goldsmiths’ College 1995-98. His first solo show was at Habitat London 1996.
The Artist’s Work
In Morrison’s work small plants can become giants, while trees can be reduced to dwarf-like dimensions. The viewer is invited to consider the basic properties & how their union creates a sense of pictorial space.
Richard Long
Biography
Richard Long was born in Bristol in 1945. He studied at the West of England College of Art, Bristol (1962-66) and at St Martin's School of Art, London (1966-68). He lives in Bristol and continues to travel the world to make his work.
The Artist’s Work
Long is not the only artist to create art out of walking, but he has earned his place in the contemporary art field as one of the most notable. His work is present in the collection of every major contemporary art museum.
Ronald Cameron
Biography
Ronald Cameron is a Londoner of Scots extraction. He graduated from Camberwell Art College in 1951 with a diploma in Sculpture. During his long and successful professional career he worked in many field of 3D art producing sculpture.
The Artist’s Work
Cameron is a sculptor whose works have been increasingly sought after in recent years. Captured frozen in time, life-like and elegant, each provokes the viewer to contemplate on the beauty of the human form.
Sam Francis
Biography
Born in California, Francis studied medicine at the University of California. He was in the hospital for several years, & it was while there that he began to paint. Once out of the hospital he returned to Berkeley, this time to study art.
The Artist’s Work
Francis is considered the most prolific of all the abstract expressionists. He considered that through lithography & etching he was able to explore options that were simply not possible by painting alone.
Sami Makarem
Biography
Born in 1931 in Aley, Makarem is a Druze Lebanese scholar, writer, poet and artist; he is best known for his academic contributions in the fields of Islamic studies, Sufism, and Islamic history.
The Artist’s Work
As an artist, Makarem has a long-standing career of outstanding contributions to the understanding of Islam & the Arabic language. He connects to a wider audience & conveys the hidden beauty of the written word.
Stephen Cox
Biography
Cox was born in Bristol in 1946. He studied at the Central School of Art and Design, London. His work is based in other cultures. His early sculptures related to architecture & archaic fragments, were realised in stone from Italian quarries.
The Artist’s Work
Cox has spent much of his lifetime developing an affinity with the world’s finest stone. The nine pieces of work on show had been carved from stone that included Indian basalt and Egyptian Imperial porphyry.
Therese Oulton
Biography
Oulton was born in 1953 and attended St. Martin's School of Art, London from 1975 - 79 and then the Royal College of Art, London from 1980-83. She has exhibited regularly in Europe and the USA since graduating from the Royal College of Art.
The Artist’s Work
Oulton found herself thrust into the spotlight with a nomination for the Turner Prize, one of only two women nominated that year. Her work is held in many private & public collections.