Nabil Nahas: Don’t Get Me Wrong: La Biennale di Venezia

Tethys was the third solo exhibition by the renowned Lebanese American artist Nabil Nahas at Lawrie Shabibi, taking viewers on a journey through the boundless world of colour, texture, and imagination. It was on view from 30 October 2023 to 5 January 2024.

Nabil Nahas drew inspiration from his Mediterranean roots—reconnecting to the places of his childhood, Lebanon and Egypt, and a deep affinity for the human soul—and explored these themes through the lens of colour, texture, and the enigmatic world of nature. He took cues from celestial and marine phenomena, creating multi-layered paintings that evoked biomorphic and organic forms. Nahas’s artistic expression was rooted in abstract geometry and three-dimensional explorations, playing with scale to invite visitors to delve into microcosmic worlds within the canvas. He presented a carefully curated selection of his latest paintings that transported viewers into a realm of vibrant hues, tactile experiences, and hypnotic atmospheres. His works featured vivid depictions of cedars, olive trees, and palms, alongside his evolving Fractal series.

Within his Landscapes series, Nahas portrayed trees in a way that magnified their presence. His cedars loomed large in the viewer’s gaze, their towering forms dominating the scene. Meanwhile, his olive trees and palms focused on the rugged and irregular textures of their trunks. He employed a spectrum of emotions by alternating between vivid and sombre hues throughout different stages of the series. Gold paint added a reflective quality to his canvases, symbolising the brightness of happy memories. In contrast, the use of black involved bold, gestural strokes that conveyed a sense of weight and depth, symbolising the gravity of darker memories. His skill in combining colours and shapes evoked strong emotional responses related to the Beirut explosion August 4 2020. Four of his eight largest works explored visceral emotions including grief, shock, resilience, hope, and anger connected to this tragic event, functioning as a cathartic process for the artist.

One of the distinctive techniques used by Nahas in his Fractal paintings involved the “encrusted” method, through which he constructed three-dimensional surfaces by layering textures and materials. He built up layers of paint, allowing some to protrude while others receded, mimicking geological formations and organic growth found on the sea floor or within underwater craters. He often used blues and greens to evoke oceanic tones, alongside earthy hues and metallic accents to simulate the shimmering, reflective qualities of water.

Tethys referred to the rich history of the Tethys Sea—an ancient body of water that once stretched across what is now the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. This sea played a pivotal role in shaping the geological and biological evolution of the planet. In Greek mythology, Tethys, born of Uranus and Gaia, was both the sister and consort of Oceanus and the mother of the river gods and Oceanids.

The exhibition was divided into two distinct parts, each offering a unique perspective on Nahas’s work. In the first part, he presented his Fractal paintings, which alluded to the cycles of nature. Drawing from celestial and marine phenomena, these multi-layered works evoked biomorphic and organic forms, acting as a bridge between microscopic and macroscopic worlds while emphasising the interconnectedness of natural systems.

The second part of Tethys focused on Nahas’s portrayal of Lebanon’s emblematic trees within his Landscapes series. These subjects held deep personal significance, evoking memories of his childhood. From coastal palm trees to ancient Lebanese cedars and olive trees he collected, Nahas approached them as “portraits,” magnifying their presence and imbuing them with a sense of gravitas that paid homage to their historical and cultural resonance.

However, a pivotal moment in Nahas’s artistic trajectory was marked by the Beirut explosion August 4 2020. This devastating event, unfolding amid a year of global crises, prompted him to begin his olive tree series. His approach remained instinctual and visceral, guided by subconscious impulses rather than meticulous planning. The resulting works, characterised by shifting black tones and bold, gestural strokes, reflected an internal turmoil. These paintings took on a corporeal, almost carnal intensity, standing as silent witnesses to chaos while embodying a strength that was both proud and tormented.

Tethys referred to the rich history of the Tethys Sea—an enigmatic body of water that once spanned the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, and which played a defining role in the Earth’s geological and biological evolution.