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Yazan Halwani

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Yazan Halwani
Yazan Halwani painting the Flower Salesman in Dortmund, Germany
Born17th of May 1993
Beirut, Lebanon
NationalityLebanese
EducationAmerican University of Beirut
Known forStreet art, Arabic Calligraphy
Notable work

Yazan Halwani is a street artist from Beirut, Lebanon that paints murals through a combination of renewed Arabic calligraphy and portraits.[1] Dubbed “Beirut’s Banksy” by Arab and international media,[2][3][4] Yazan has painted in a number of countries including: France,[5][6] Singapore,[7] Germany,[8][9] Beirut, Tunisia[10] and the UAE. Yazan is known for his re-use of Arabic calligraphy to create figurative elements in an attempt to give a new dimension to Arabic calligraphy which has focused traditionally on abstraction rather than figuration.

Biography

Yazan Halwani was born on the 17th May 1993 in Beirut, Lebanon. The Lebanese Civil War had taken its toll on the city, and large parts of the city were destroyed. In 2007, Yazan started experimenting with graffiti after being influenced by French Hiphop music, notably IAM (band). In 2011, Yazan decided to change his style and create a mural style that is independent of the west, by leveraging Arabic calligraphy and portraits of Arab people. He frequently reports that his shift in style was accompanied by a shift in attitude: "Graffiti has a strong connotation of vandalism, but in my city most people do vandalism: Lebanese Civil War, corrupt politicians. This is why I try to make my murals a constructive expression of the city."[11]

Yazan has studied Computer and Communication Engineering at the American University of Beirut and graduated with a Bachelor in 2015.[12]

Artwork and Style

Eternal Sabah Mural by Yazan Halwani on Assaf building in Hamra, Beirut

Yazan’s calligraffiti style uses Arabic letters to form intricate, modern and stylized Arabic calligraphy compositions that are an essential element of his art work.[13] His calligraphy does not focus on the meaning of the words but on their shape, movement, or the composition: traditional Arabic calligraphy for him has always been formed by the meaning of the words (usually excerpts from the Koran, poems, or sayings) and the shape of the calligraphy; Yazan challenges tradition by removing the meaning of the words to focus solely on the task of the calligrapher. Hence his calligraphy is used as a "pixel" for a portrait, a way to note music, or a way to show movement.

Yazan was initially influenced by the western hip hop and graffiti scene from the USA and Europe. But living in the Middle-East, he soon turned his attention to Middle Eastern art and Arabic calligraphy through an Arabic calligraphy book that his uncle shared with him.[14] Yazan subsequently evolved his style to paint images, words and letters that have an oriental touch and inspiration. Another distinctive element of Yazan’s art is the focus on portraits as a central element within a mural or a painting[15] In addition to his murals, the artist has recently started installing sculptures made of cement on the street. The sculptures, inspired by the heavy use of cement in Beirut, write Arabic words that integrate to the city in an organic manner. The artist that these sculptures is the way he imagines "the city would speak" if it did.

Yazan’s murals are characterized by their size, themes and portraits that include portraits of Arab and Lebanese artists, cultural icons, and faces of Arabs. Through his murals, he achieves the objective of painting a positive image of the city of Beirut. Yazan’s famous walls in Beirut include a wall in Gemmayzeh street that represents a portrait of Lebanese artist and cultural icon Fairouz. Yazan Halwani also painted a portrait of Ali Abdullah, a homeless man that used to live on Bliss street.

His biggest murals is a full building painted with the portrait of Lebanese singer Sabah at the heart of Hamra, Beirut, on a building that housed before the Lebanese Civil War the Horseshoe cafe, a popular hangout for Arab artists and writers such as Paul Guiragossian, Nizar Qabbani and Mahmoud Darwish. Another mural in Germany that attracted international attention was entitled "The Flower Salesman" which depicts a Syrian child called Fares that used to sell flowers in Beirut and died during the Syrian Civil War.

Exhibitions

  • Huna/k, Dortmund (Germany), September 2015
  • UrbanArt Biennale 2015, Saarbrücken (Germany), March–November 2015
  • 32Bis, Tunis (Tunisia), June 2015
  • “Du Bronx aux Rues Arabes” at the Institut du Monde Arab, Paris (France), April- July 2015
  • Horouf Art Exhibition, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), February 2015
  • Djerbahood Open Air Museum, Djerba (Tunisia), August 2014
  • Singapore Art Fair, Singapore (Singapore), November 2014
  • Liquid Art House, Boston (USA), May 2014
  • Courtyard Gallery, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), March- April 2014

References

  1. ^ Bramley, Ellie Violet (2015-09-22). "How a Beirut graffiti artist is using his murals to try to unite a fragmented city". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  2. ^ Editor, Sara Elkamel Associate International; Post, The Huffington (2015-09-04). "Meet 'Beirut's Banksy,' The Artist Who's Transforming The City One Wall At A Time". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-10-09. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ "How Beirut's Banksy has brought color to the city's battered streets". Al Arabiya. 21 July 2015.
  4. ^ http://www.greatbigstory.com/stories/beirut-banksy#
  5. ^ Landauro, Inti (2015-05-15). "A Hip-Hop Beat on the Arab Street". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  6. ^ Fourquet, Laure (2015-07-23). "Tracing Hip-Hop's Phenomenal Rise". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  7. ^ "International artists flock in Singapore for inaugural Art Fair". 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  8. ^ Germany, bento, Hamburg,. "Der "Banksy Beiruts" hat einen syrischen Jungen auf einer Dortmunder Hauswand verewigt". Retrieved 2016-10-09.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "HUNA/K-Festival: Ein freundliches Lächeln als beeindruckendes Statement gegen Krieg und Vertreibung - Nordstadtblogger". Nordstadtblogger (in German). 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  10. ^ widewalls. "Yazan Halwani - Calligraphy and Portraits". WideWalls. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  11. ^ "Q&A: Calligraphy meets street art in Beirut". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  12. ^ "Yazan Halwani is painting our city". NOW News. Retrieved 24 August 2013.
  13. ^ "Issue 18 Cities - Beirut - Transforming the Face of Beirut - Digital Development Debates". www.digital-development-debates.org. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  14. ^ "Lebanese calligraphy artist creates murals of beloved local figures | The National". Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  15. ^ "Lebanese calligraphy artist creates murals of beloved local figures | The National". Retrieved 2016-10-09.
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