We talked about the evolution of his art and his next goals to achieve. He shared with us his enthusiasm for his first solo exhibition. Now he is working on animations that he hope to see in video games in the future. In the future he hopes to see a stronger artist community in Lebanon and sees himself directing a movie.
Hi Ginger! It’s nice to hear you again. I know that you had your first solo exhibition back in july, tell us about it
Well it was my first solo exhibition and It happened on Saturday 24th of July. It was called “Le art exhibition” and I was exhibiting all my artworks that I've done for the past three years. I printed all my illustrations; my animations were there as well. We invited many people but the turnout was triple what we expected so that was exciting and it was a pretty fun night.
I remember you told us that you set a goal to yourself: create an artwork every week. Are you keeping doing it?
Yes! I've been trying my best to create something every week for the past three years. I've been doing it for three years so I have a lot of illustrations, a lot of content I can exhibit. I've been doing it mainly because I don't procrastinate. Because I know at some point that if I stop doing it I will get lazy and I won't be as creative as I should be. It's like an exercise for myself. I always surprise myself and find new things to talk about, new things to express in different ways.
“I always surprise myself and find new things to talk about, new things to express in different ways.”
Can people see an evolution of your art from a technical point of view and from a topic point of view in your artworks that you will show in the exhibition?
Yes, there is an evolution in my artworks. At the beginning it was very basic. Everything was mostly black and white and the characters were very simple because I didn't really have the confidence that I have in my art now. I add more colors now; the characters have evolved have more details, expressions and they are moving because I started doing animation.
I read that you started to do animations after the beginning of the pandemic and that you hope maybe in the future to see your animations in video games. Why animations? and what fascinates you about video games?
For animations I've always been interested in it because of Disney and because of all the possibilities you can do through animations: the colors, the characters..you can see it in Looney Tunes for example. Its technique always fascinated me. Since COVID we had mostly nothing but time so I started the experiment in it. My animations have small details and the movement in it is very simple. Through trial and error, I am trying to convey the message that I want. Hopefully video games will be the next evolution of it. I hope to expand that animations maybe in Tetris, then 3D pen because in games you can control the style.
“For animations I've always been interested in it because of Disney and because of all the possibilities you can do through animations: the colors, the characters.”
Is there something in particular that you didn't do or didn't achieve yet that you would like to do in the future?
Well, I'd like to direct a movie. I don't know if I would be able to do it but it's something that I've always been interested in doing. I mean I'm not a director I am an interior architect, but I've always been able to experiment or try new things. And making a movie although it might be very exhausting to do, it would be something that would be fun.
Dare clan is interested in building a community of artists so I ask you your experience in your country about it
I have been able to meet a lot of great artists here with completely different styles. Very interesting people that have so many different ideas from my own. As a community I would hope it can get stronger. The problem here in Lebanon is that the art is not as appreciated as it should be so a lot of artists are leaving for better opportunities outside. There is a lot of talent, ideas, artistic people not only just drawing and painting but through directors, writers. I hope someday that these people will be appreciated more, and that the community can be much stronger then what it is right now.
“I hope someday that these people will be appreciated more, and that the community can be much stronger then what it is right now.”
Is there another project you are working on that you want to talk about?
There was a project was launched back in july that I'm a part of. It is called “Flip for Beirut”. It is like those postcards that when you move a little they change the image. So I did an image about one of our streets where the nightlife is the best here in Lebanon, it's called Mar Mikhael. It is one of the places that was affected very harshly by the explosion so the image that changes is an empty streets that then turn into the street where people are drinking and happy. This initiative is basically selling those postcards to help the people that were affected by the explosion. I hope it would be a successful initiative to help those people. The exhibition was very demanding and very hectic but it's fun. I was recreating most of my illustrations into installation in real life. This is a goal I've been wanting to do as well and another goal that I'm doing is recreating my illustrations into oil paintings. Every sketch that I put on my Instagram is as a initial idea for future oil painting. One of the paintings that I'm working right now on is primates. I am doing it into a 3 meter by 1.5 meter oil painting and it's it has this realism and surrealistic vibe. As well as working on entering the Nft space I just sold my first two and hopefuly there will be more interest on my work in the future in that space.
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Images provided by: Ginger Potter