Nélida Nassar 04.27.2022

Shawki Youssef is an artist who is trying to escape the restricting definitions of the art world within which he was educated. Seeking a more progressive and creatively rich reality, he makes “art” directly from his encounters with real life. The works currently exhibited at Beirut’s Mission Art Gallery are part of a three-roll series of 35 drawings initiated twelve years ago. The drawings in cool colors were sold out long ago. Those dominated by the red palette and depicting erotic and violent subjects are on display now. They were conceived onto a continuous paper roll and then cut out into 11 different equal  parts and mounted on cloth. 

The drawings have both abstract and figural elements in each one with strong brushstrokes and vivid colors. Reflecting the increasing socio-political turmoil felt throughout his native Lebanon, Youssef’s art explores the cyclical patterns of brutal history manifest throughout the Middle East. What persists in his practice is an expressive exploration of violence – of feeling, bodily motion, nature and its man-made counterpart. 

The artist mixes media with words, plus imagination and fantasy to depict a metropolis of the mind and memory. Streets, buildings and naked female bodies unfurl and unravel at once, as lines and strokes both built and decomposed. He captures the energy of life itself, particularly the life of women, expressed at its simplest, as a universal crucible of emotions, though not without ambiguity.

Youssef is also a serial collaborator with artists from different practices. At the opening of  this latest exhibition, he teamed up with a poet and a musician. These collaborators were never relegated to the background; their presence was strongly felt, and they sometimes took centre stage while Youssef himself retreated to the sidelines.  He brought together the poet Joseph Issaoui and a group of his former colleagues from various professions and artistic disciplines. Together, they staged a reading in the gallery of 11 of Issaoui’s metonymic and erotic poems that have a particular resonance with Youssef’s 11 drawings, while cellist Nayiri Ghazarian played excerpts from Bach’s Orchestral Suites 1 and 3 and some baroque miniatures.

This event raises several questions. Are the amicable responses of each and every collaborator a testament to Youssef’s character, and, if that is the case, does the work simply pander to his own ego? Or do they mainly illustrate the satisfying nature of collaborative, community-oriented work?  For numerous reasons – one of which is the title of the work itself – I doubt the former, and am inclined to believe the latter, but no definitive answers can be found here for the simple reason that the work does not seek them. With no accusations to make or opinions to be promoted, all that the project aims to formulate is an honest and objective picture of the artist/collaborator relationship, and it is this relaxed attitude, non-ideological and non-theory-based approach at its core that makes the work so refreshing.  

Ultimately, there are many good things to say about “It is just a Poem” and its interrogation of the significance of art and poetry in everyday life. It draws attention to the often-neglected process of art; its meta-artistic profile allows a self-critique of the work itself; and so on and so forth. Each of these statements may be considered in future exhibitions, and rightfully so, for they are all reasonable and potentially fertile matters for discussion. But for me, personally, the best thing about this work is the fact that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. In fact, it downright refuses to expound upon the definition and nature of art, particularly as it relates to form, context and location of artworks, often confounding his critics and galleries in the process. Youssef and Issaoui both know that “It is just a Poem” will not be life-changing, just as it will not be considered “strenuous” let alone “important.” But what it will be, in the end, is fun – fun for both the artist and the community of normal people with normal jobs that come to the gallery to be involved. It will just be fun. And what better indicator can there be of the positive energy of contemporary art?

March 21 to 31, 2022
Exhibition at Mission Art Gallery
Mar Mikhayel, Facing Vendôme Stairs
Beirut, Lebanon

https://www.missionart.online/mission
https://www.instagram.com/shawkiyoussef/?hl=fr
https://artscoops.com/artist-details/youssef-shawki
https://selectionsarts.viewingrooms.com/artists/233-shawki-youssef/biography/
https://sard.lau.edu.lb/about/people/shawki-e-youssef.php
https://editmanar.com/book-author/issaoui-joseph/
https://www.facebook.com/joseph.issaoui