SHAFIC ABBOUD, LIGHT AND COLOURS . Paintings, 1958-2002 .
Shafic Abboud (quotations):
I only stop when both colour and light match. I cannot escape from colour, it is my fate and nature - my eyes must have been dazzled for ever. The impact between two colours creates light, but whether it be true or false, this “theory” does make me paint. (Mai 1982)
The painter is madly in love with what he is seeking for (and which he therefore does not know). (No date). I go to my studio with great desire and with that boundless delight at the prospect of painting. I go in and look around with the delectation of the lover as well as his fears. (March 1982)
Claude Lemand (quotations):
Shafic Abboud’s paintings are a manifesto for freedom, colour, light and joy, as well as being a permanent bridge between the art scenes of France, Lebanon and the Middle East. Shafic Abboud was very attached to Lebanon, to its landscapes, its light and his own childhood memories.
His mature works are transfigurative, a synthesis between his fairy-tale like childhood world and his technical mastering of abstract Parisian painting. He sought to transcend the latter, stimulated by both Bonnard and de Staël, by giving it a soul of its own and a rich and luminous texture. Through his paintings, Abboud aimed to share his own view on both his inside and outside worlds. Being neither a devout follower nor believer of any religion, Abboud was nonetheless very much influenced by the glory of the Byzantine Greco-Arab liturgy. Symbolically, Art triumphs over death.
Emmanuel Daydé (quotation):
Shafic Abboud, whose paintings that are inebriated with light, woven with colours like carpets, enclosed like the Garden of Eden and rustling like Persian miniatures, appear as transfigured visions of an intangible reality. It seems that his entire oeuvre follows some of the Bonnardian aspects of the joie de vivre. Abboud remains a mystical believer of the moment.
Available Publications:
1. SHAFIC ABBOUD. Monograph, Paris, 2006. Directed and pubished by Claude Lemand, in two volumes: texts in French ISBN 2-910263-04-5 – texts in English ISBN 2-910263-06-1.
2. SHAFIC ABBOUD. Catalogue, Paris, 2011. Directed and published by Claude Lemand, at the occasion of the IMA Retrospective, 68 pages in colour, 24 x 33 cm. ISBN 2-910263-07-X.
Translated from French by Valérie Hess.