Beiteddine: In the relatively rarefied world of Lebanese modern art, the Basbous family of Rachana occupies a space akin to the one the Rahbanis occupy in the country’s musical heritage. Michel Basbous, a pioneer in modernist approaches to sculpture, had an only son in Anachar – which, as the lore of the land informs one, is “Rachana” spelled backward. In his early years, Basbous the younger worked at wall decoration. Later he decided to pursue sculpture as a profession. Invariably he was seen as following in his father’s footsteps.
Nowadays, Rachana has a toehold in Beiteddine, with a smattering of Anachar’s recent works scattered about the village.
“Balance & Light” marks the first collaboration between Art Lounge and the Beiteddine Art Festival. It assembles eight massive sculptures within the former silk factory that houses Art Lounge’s Beiteddine franchise. Three more of Anachar’s works squat in the garden outside Art Lounge, while an additional nine of his sculptures can be found on display at Beiteddine Palace, not far from the festival main stage.
Anyone familiar with the oeuvre of Anachar may recall “Shattered Sun,” the prominent exhibition of the artist’s work, staged a bit more than a year ago at Zeitouneh Square in Wadi Abu Jamil.
“Balance & Light” displays a broader range of steel sculptures than the Wadi Abu Jamil show, highlighting the artist’s deployment of architectural motifs in his work.
What first draws the viewer’s eye is the sheer scale of these pieces – which can attain two meters in height. With the exception of the stainless steel work “Midnight Sun,” all the pieces in Art Lounge’s Beiteddine show are confected from a reddish steel, which imbues the exhibition with the rusty hues of obsolescence.
Also intriguing in Anachar’s work is its thematic transition from astronomical shapes – as though he were taking inspiration from the heavenly bodies – to more mundane forms like ladders, towers and steel sticks, evidently taking inspiration from architecture.
As the title of this exhibition suggests, light is also important aspect of Anachar’s works.
The artist works to entice the onlooker’s curiosity with a game of light and shadow, encouraging her to read forms that, as the show’s press materials suggest, “are not immediately recognizable.”
Depending on the perspective from which she gazes at individual works, and the light at her disposal as she does, the viewer may feel she is looking at a completely different sculpture.
The Beiteddine Palace chapter of the exhibition arrays several tall sculptures alongside one another other. The works’ titles – “Beirut-Dubai,” “Beirut-Paris,” “Beirut-Mecca,” “Beirut-Damascus,” “Beirut-Cairo” – give the series the aspect of a totemic travelogue, which each work personifying the artist’s vision of their interrelationship.
Among the most expressive works here is “Beirut-Damascus.” The center of the tall steel structure has been voided. Hanging in this absent rectangle is a chain that drapes into a coil atop the plinth in which the piece is embedded.
This moveable element gives this otherwise static work an aspect of movement and voice, as it is simply to imagine the clanging of the chain as it strikes the metal structure. Even for those innocent of the vexing relationship between the states of Lebanon and Syria since independence, Chains have specific, generally negative, associations – imprisonment, censorship and restricted freedoms. One with local knowledge, and an upbeat perspective, might see in it the pervasive ties between the two countries.
At the former silk factory, the 100x100x65 cm structure entitled “Lost Time” is a G-shaped steel structure adorned with a ball and geometrical motifs. Although the structure appears broken and on the verge of collapse, it also evinces continuity and harmony. For some, the sculpture may recall the sort of time-space vortex you’d find in a science fiction movie (Mario Kassar’s “Stargate,” say) or a clock that’s stopped ticking.
Other works evoke Lebanon’s past.
“Now & After” (100x34x24 cm), for instance, is comprised of three towers, representing destruction. From left to right, observers face a filled, solid tower, with steel bits at its base. The second is a bit more hollowed out, crumbling to bits. The third depicts the collapsing foundation, with only a thin structure remaining upright while broken shards of steel fall from it.
Redolent of the ruined edifices that dot the country’s landscape, this material degradation also defines the obsolescence of form generally.
The dualities in Anachar’s works – the weight of steel and the play on gravity, static and movement, construction and destruction – will challenge some viewers’ way of seeing.
Anachar Basbous’ “Balance & Light” is on show at Art Lounge Beiteddine (Silk Factory) and the Beiteddine Palace until Aug. 31. For more information, please call 03-997-676.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on July 29, 2013, on page 16.
July 29, 2013 12:09 AM
By Chirine Lahoud
The Daily Star