Marwan Chamaa

Marwan Chamaa (born in Beirut, Lebanon, 1964) is a painter, designer, and storyteller who spent most of his adult life in Germany, Lebanon, and the USA. He studied Art at the American University of Beirut, Beirut University College, and at the Corcoran School of Art. His art has been described as Middle Eastern Neo Pop-Art. He embodies the traits of a paparazzi, storyteller, and an epicurean.

Marwan Chamaa was a founding member of the “X-ism” movement while in university. This movement, which included a diverse array of ideologies, fashion styles and forms of expression, as well as visual arts, music, literature and film. The subculture is largely characterized by anti-establishment views of the academic structures in art and the promotion of individual freedom of expression. It was established in 1987 by four art students: Marwan Chamaa, Fadi Ghazzaoui, Abdallah Ghorayeb, and Haytham Jawhari. It laid the ground work for their current artistic identity.

From 1985 Marwan Chamaa has been painting using various forms, mediums, and techniques. In mid 2013, he had a solo show entitled "La Dolce Vita" at the Galerie Tanit, (Beirut, Lebanon). It was dubbed "Middle Eastern neo-pop art" by many critics. http://www.galerietanit.com/. The exhibition comprised 12 paintings that flow from one canvas to the next to form a 21.60 meter (70 feet and 87 inches) mural. The collection is an illustrated narrative.

At the end of 2013 he showed "Caramels, superheroes, fried eggs et chocolats", a series comprising two (191 x 405 cm) triptych paintings and one (240 x 185 cm) diptych painting. This exhibition was shown at Bel-Air Fine Art Gallery in Geneva and Gstaad, Switzerland.

In 2015 Marwan Chamaa showed the series, “unplugged”. It is partly based on photographs that Carlos René Pérez http://www.carlosreneperez.com/ took of New York City. René was Marwan’s neighbor in the East Village of New York City where he spent many years of his adult life. The images chosen for this series from René’s collection speak intimately to Marwan. They represent a snapshot of his old neighborhood and are a vignette of spots in and around the city he used to frequent.

In September 2015, Chamaa was chosen by Selections Magazine to be among 50 emerging Arab artists. He created "The Tarboush Chronicles" a series that reiterates the importance of staying true to one's original identity. A 20 cm x 20 cm canvas of the series was displayed in the 2015 Beirut Art Fair.

In November 2015 the series Ecstatic was exhibited, Marwan again uses his surroundings as his muse as he sets forth two large paintings. Inspired by the likes of Vitaly Komar, Alex Melamid, Wang Guangyi, and Alexander Kosolapov who use communist propaganda symbols as a base to convey a message. However unlike those great artists Marwan is not criticizing the communist drives but rather using the original propaganda posters of Chairman Mao Zedong the founding father of the People's Republic of China, as a backdrop to Lebanize his message. These two paintings are currently on show in Vick Vanlian Architecture & Design Gallery in Beirut, Lebanon.

In the Spring of 2016, “Chagrin d’amour – the musical” series was exhibited. The mélange of the Occident and Orient, as is typical in Chamaa’s works is evident in this series. Vintage Western comic book covers as well as vignettes from famous pieces by Roy Lichtenstein are wittingly woven with 1940's - 1960's Arabic love song lyrics. Marwan’s choice to incorporate Lichtenstein as a backdrop to this particular series is a natural selection as a tribute to the pop artist, who since the beginning of his career, used comic books as subject matter in various of his early paintings.

In July 2016, Mashrou3 Lulu (The Lulu Project) was presented. This series is about the adventures of Lulu Moppet, nicknamed Little Lulu, and her friend Thomas Tompkins, aka Tubby. The series is painted in the style reminiscent to the original “The Little Lulu” comic strip covers. The series comprises two installations, one triptych and two large format paintings. This work by Chamaa depicts a playful and innocent adventure of Little Lulu and Tubby, incorporating other characters like Hergé’s character Archibald Haddock and many hidden surprises.

• L'Association Libano-Allemande pour la Promotion de la Culture, Beirut, Lebanon, January 1991
• Le Thé Art Café, Beirut, Lebanon, May 1991
• Galerie Tanit, Beirut, Lebanon, May 2013
• Beirut Art Fair, Beirut, Lebanon, September 2013
• Bel-Air Fine Art Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland, December 2013
• Bel-Air Fine Art Gallery Gstaad, Switzerland, December 2013
• Bel-Air Fine Art Gallery, St. Tropez, France, April 2014
• Galerie Des Lices, St. Tropez, France, May 2014
• Beirut Art Fair, Beirut, Lebanon, September 2014
• Bel-Air Fine Art Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland, February 2015
• Paddle 8, New York City, USA, May 2015
• Beirut Art Fair, Beirut, Lebanon, September 2015
• Vick Vanilian Architecture & Design, Beirut, Lebanon, November 2015
• Opera Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 2016
• Opera Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 2016
• Tawlet, Beirut, Lebanon, June 2016