Farah A. Malhas (Lebanon)
“A work of art which did not begin with emotion is not art.”
In her early childhood, Farah grew up surrounded by art. Being creative was both essential and encouraged by her late father, she is a self-taught artist in that regard.
Farah’s father would often say; “an artist never makes mistakes, never erase anything.” This has become the focal point of her work. She uses mixed media (predominantly oil, acrylic, and spray paint) on large canvases, her signature size being 200 x 180cm, and combines heavy Arabic poetic versus with fun Disney/cartoon characters to get a specific message across.
Farah is mostly inspired by her own collage of sorrow and tragedy. This specific style of work has become a means of therapy and a way to make light of heavy situations, the first of which was the untimely passing of her father in early 2012.
The calligraphy and paint in her work bleeds symbolizing the tears she cried over his loss. The pieces are messy and sometimes incomplete, just like life.
