Untitled, (2019), 120 x 160 cm, oil on canvas

Inspired by her surroundings in the Bekaa and Arsal, Aida Halloum, is a master colorist that paints windows of abstractions. Halloum is a graduate of the Lebanese University with a Masters in Fine Arts in 1993, and a student of Fatima El Hajj, a pioneer neo-imperssionist in the MENA region.

”I like to carve with colors” says Halloum when describing her process. Halloum builds her paintings with layers of colors and creates compositions with squares on top of squares, just like windows or portals that obstruct the viewer from recognizing a particular landscape. And yet, this same technique allows the viewer’s imagination to building its own image of the landscape presented, whether it’s real or imagined, or built based on a graphic memory by the artist. A feast of colors and blocks are what it’s all about.