TRIAD 03

"This solo exhibition of Charbel Abou Zeidan (°1978, Beirut, Lebanon) unfolds across two pavilions, exploring material transformation, perceptual ambiguity, and colour as a carrier of energy, while moving beyond the limits of painting.

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His work is situated at the intersection of painting, visual art, and installation, where he actively explores, stretches, and challenges the conventional boundaries of the painting medium. In his practice, he develops a visual language in which the painting no longer functions as a static image surface, but as a hybrid object that continuously shifts between surface, material, and spatial construction.

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Central to his research is the principle of intentionally exposed canvas, in which he physically intervenes in the canvas by cutting it into pieces and reassembling it through sewing and repair techniques. As a result, the canvas is approached as textile: a carrier with its own physical logic of cutting, connecting, tension, and restoration.

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The visible interventions remain present in the final work and emphasise its process-based nature, in which making and disruption go hand in hand.

In addition, he uses impasto not merely as a painting technique, but as a way of treating the painting surface as a pliable and almost sculptural material.

 

The paint acquires a material density that allows the picture plane to be read as a soft, foldable surface, as if it were a blanket or cloth that can be shifted, folded, and rearranged. In combination with acrylic paint and silicone, this results in highly tactile surfaces that reference

textile and leather, deliberately putting material perception under tension. The painting thus becomes an ambiguous object that continuously oscillates between painting, textile, and sculpture.

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Within his geometrically abstract visual language, Charbel translates natural

forces into visual compositions.

Through the use of color, planes, and rhythmic lines, he evokes associations with waterfalls, star showers, sun rays, and the energy of spring.

 

His work therefore balances between structure and movement, control and

spontaneity, making the invisible, such as energy and natural forces, tangibly

perceptible."

Text by Lore Duvivier