artBahrain.org

Having started your gallery in Beirut in 1971, moving to Paris in 1979 and then Barcelona in 1994, promoting largely contemporary

Arab art, was there a difference between how people reacted toward the art you were showing in these three different places?

It is the change of time as well as geography that has to frame my answer. In Beirut, starting activities in the sixties and culminating in

Contact Art Gallery, we were living in the effervescent period of this beautiful city. We were young and full of enthusiasm, and so was

the society. People, i.e. my generation of middle class professionals ventured into my vision and enthusiasm in a way that I shall

never forget. Many beautiful collections were started then for young professionals who ventured to collect Arab art, not as investment

but as love for the discovery of another dimension in culture. Many collected Ismail Fattah, Faiq Hussein (not Hassan), Nassiri, Alkazi,

Farid Haddad, Aref Rayess social satires, etc. . Paris on the other hand was a total accident. The whole thing, moving there, not

knowing the language, nor the culture, things I did not assess when I took the impulsive decision to create the Galerie Faris in 79. The

public was generous with its support, especially the younger and left leaning and artistically savvy youth…

After our second FIAC participation, and with the consolidation of our art group that included Abboud, Henein, Farid Haddad,

Assadour, Ugo Attardi, Lisa and Ismail Fattah, and the unforgettable friendship and support of Guillaum Corneille, we started

attracting serious collectors beyond the young. However, sometimes towards the late eighties, when we had terra firma in the art

scene in Paris, we started feeling the pressure of the colleagues in the profession that went as far as a collusion to deny us access to

our decade earned FIAC place, that my friend Tahar ben Jalloun and Denise Rene contributed effectively to help restore our continued

successful presence in that forum.

In Barcelona, I had no gallery and was more dedicated to putting together a family and developing a design career. The elegant and

cultured Barcelonese remained an enigma to me. I thought their outlook was more introvert to Catalan and Spanish art than to the

world, or even to Europe… It’s changing a bit now.

Has the art market changed dramatically since you started? More importantly, how has your attitude about art changed over the

years?

Alas, yes. It has changed dramatically. When we started people attended galleries with drive and enthusiasm. People collected for

love and fun. People spent time with their acquisitions, and they proscribed and defined their cultural orientation. Now, VALUE seems

to be the dominant zone of interest. Art, thanks to the shift in fortunes in the area, is quickly becoming a commodity. We can rarely

conduct an intelligent discussion on art without having it dominated by criteria of VALUE and success. To tell you the truth, I think its

happening in art, in tandem with over regionalized cultural identities, as we see in current politics and economics in the area.

Somebody is declaring that since they afford to build infrastructures: big universities, big new museums, big everything, then we

should follow and accept that it is no more Beirut, Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, not even beautiful little Bahrain where we should look

for traditions and values in culture… It’s becoming a market commodity and I am not very happy about the consequent loss of more

innocent times…

You have a wide range of aesthetic, is there some common essence in the work and/or artists that you look for in putting

together your roster?

Now, I try to discover young talent: Thanks to My friend Saleh Barakat, I discovered Katanani for example… and I work assiduously at

revitalizing current artists’ debates and challenging their abilities…

Do you find that there is a national style amongst contemporary artists or is the art world completely international?

Art cannot be considered as a national football team. Artists and art bodies resort to these definitions because of lack of

understanding as to what the process of art creation is in human culture… It is a defense of ignorance… national traits in art are the

bi product of later academics and art historians not the job of Ministries of culture and their client intelegencia…

How has the Middle East art market been affected by the global financial problems?

I really do not follow that line. In fact, on reflection, I am more optimistic with the current dire situation, maybe the deep pockets can get

off the habit of INVESTING in art, and maybe, hopefully, artists will be more aware of real people as their public…

Are there any particular initiatives you believe the government (local) should undertake to help the creative industries at this

economic cycle?

Governments (local) should get off the backs of artists. Governments should open up their societies to allow artistic expression a free

domain. Governments should increase scholarships for talented students. Governments should not meddle in art…

In 100 words or less, what do you believe is happening in the Middle East art market right now?

I think that with the total absence of open cultural frontiers, lamentably coupled with market ethics and priorities, art is not in its

healthiest of forms. The recent sudden artificial escalation has not only impoverished traditional societies of continued art input in

culture; it has in fact encouraged false values. Not only that, it encouraged theft and falsification of artworks as what has lamentably

happened in Iraqi art… It’s very discouraging.

Finally, what are the best things about being a gallerist?

If you have the chance to trigger something with an artist, you’ll experience that best thing you’re asking about. I was lucky and

reckless enough to have that experience on quite few occasions. And I am really grateful that you did not ask the opposite question

about the worst things …