An Iraqi publishing house will publish the art book “Gebran Tarazi – Pioneer of Authenticity and Innovation” by Iraqi art critic Khudhair Al-Zaidi in 2025. This book is a continuation of his first book by the same author, “Gebran Tarazi – A Story of Oriental Creativity,” published by “Adib Books” in Amman in 2024. What is striking is that the book, with all its intellectual and aesthetic discussions, traces the Lebanese artist’s history from his early life until his death.
The research addressed several aspects of the art of Gebran Tarazi, such as the creation of “Oriental Artistic Mirrors”, which witnessed a striking distinction in all of his works, from heritage to post-modernism. The author also devoted critical chapters to the forms of wooden oriental chests that he worked on during different periods.
The book includes an analytical comparison through his work in geometric abstraction with Western artists such as Vasarely and most of his drawings.
It is known that Gebran Tarazi showed the extent of his connection to his artistic heritage by deeply and profoundly revisiting the fundamental concepts of “modernity”, “authenticity” and “heritage” in modern Arab thought. These are philosophical concepts that were thoroughly emphasized by prominent Arab thinkers and writers such as “Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri”, “Adonis”, and “Mohammed Arkoun”. The artist’s vision was based on a concept and an effort that did not depart from those philosophical propositions calling for reading conceptually artististic heritage and reviving it without canceling or excluding the concepts of “modernity”.
If Vasarely succeeded in employing oriental art with an aesthetic connection, then Gebran Tarazi’s goal was to continue affirming the discourse of modernity and mixing it creativey with the concepts of oriental heritage. This confirms that the two carried the goal of artistic formation of geometric abstraction within a similar structural and aesthetic standard.
Moroever, the book offers a detailed comparative study between “Gebran Tarazi” and iraqi artist “Shaker Hassan Al Said”, as the two artists met in a joint exhibition at Art Dubai in 2018 as two shining examples of Arab creativity, as mentioned then by the French newspaper “Le Monde”.
More than one art critic has pointed out the importance of Gebran Tarazi, but critic Al-Zaidi devoted a multidimensional artistic research to him in this book, some of which stimulated research and discussion about the importance of renewing abstract art.
Furthermore, the concept of Gebran Tarazi’s nostalgia for a new Andalusia is presented through artistic and new creativity.
Finally, it is worth mentioning here that one of the prestigious universities in Lebanon will celebrate the name of the artist “Gebran Tarazi” by hosting a detailed research conference during the year 2025 that will address his overall creative experience.
All of this stems from a belief in the importance of the experience of this distinguished artist who kept pace with different artistic styles while insisting on giving art its profound oriental identity, even with the difference in the material he used to produce the painting or installation art.
English
Español
Deutsch
Français
العربية