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Vera Farah: Zgharta Artist

One of most talked about “Al Koubra” events this summer was the exhibition of paintings by Vera Bou Tannous Farah. The exhibition was called “Lady of the Night” and consisted of twenty paintings of her most recent completed works.

Although we have included her for many years in our Artist section we though we should meet and find out more about her.

Vera’s parents are Emile, who sadly past away and Jamile (née Saade) Farah. She was born at Zgharta in 1968 and has two brothers, Elias and Antoine and three sisters, Maria, Patricia and Mabelle.

After attending the Nazaret and Soeurs des Charité schools she went to the Holy Spirit University Kaslik where she graduated in 1992 with a Diploma in Interior Design and Advertising. Attending the World Institute of Fashion in Jounieh to study fashion design followed. In 1997 she went to the Lebanese University to study art and where she attained a Diploma.

Vera combines being a professional artist and running her own Interior Design and Fashion business. She designs her own clothes, one creation she wore to stunning affect at her exhibition.

She lives with her husband, the well known Lebanese sculptor, Toni Farah, to be interviewed soon, and her four children, Do-si, Mangala, Meakel - Angelo and Helios, in Sebeel. She shares there a studio with her husband.

Vera painting mediums are oil and acrylic but she is not bound by the rigid rules of Schools of Painting. She says, “sometimes I begin the painting with acrylic colours but as the painting progresses and develops its own persona I may use oils to give the surface texture and life to emulate the subject ”.

In some of her paintings you feel that she is an artist who wants the surface of the canvas itself to reflect the subject matter of the painting itself, to make it stand out, physically and aesthetically. She uses mix mediums such as oil and acrylic to create the illusion that the painting is a sculpture of colours attached to the canvas.

An observer seeing her working will see an artist who is unafraid of colour, with an instinctive understanding of how to mix colour and how they interact with each other. When you see her paintings you feel you are in front of a dreamscape, transposed in a magical way, onto the hard surface of canvas. Her horizons suggest that are the beginning of other adventures.

Her Ehden exhibition, "Lady of the Night" builds on such ideas of painting, using allegorical symbols to express themes of love and the different forces of nature coursing through the universe.

Talking about her paintings she says women inspire her. As to other painters she defers to Salvador Dali, the influence of which can be seen in her recent paintings, using Dali like symbols and mysterious women.

She has exhibited in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London, Syria, and Tunis and all over Lebanon. Details of which are listed below. Vera is presently preparing for an exhibition at the Hotel al Kaderi, Zahle, starting at 7pm on 21st October 2005, called “Lady of the Night” Part 2.

Examples of her paintings are on permanent exhibition at the Gallery Semaan al Bahsas, Tripoli. For commissions and sales she represents herself and can be contacted on 03 16 03 45.

To see photographs of the Ehden exhibition click here. Collections and Exhibitions

· Exhibition of Arab paintings –Tunis, 1990
· Hotel Beb Al Baher “Door to the Sea” - Tripoli, Libya 1990, Solo Exhibition
· Hotel Hayat Regency – Dubai, 1990, Solo Exhibition
· Exhibition of Arabs painting –Syria, 1991
· Syria the city of the Young – 1992, Solo Exhibition
· Intercontinental Hotel – Abu Dhabi, 1995, Solo Exhibition
· Sursok Museum - Beirut, 1998 · Hotel Abchi - Ehden, 2000
· Rachid Karami International Hall – Tripoli, Lebanon, 2000, Solo Exhibition
· Ministry of National Education & Unesco – Beirut, 2000
· International Festival of Modern Art -, USA, 2000
· Hotel Abchi - Ehden, 2001
· The Gallery of Modern Art – London, 2001, Solo Exhibition
· Diwan Al Sultan Ibrahim – Aley, 2003, Solo Exhibition
· The Gallery of International Art – Italy, 2003
· Hotel Regent Palace, Aley- 2003, Solo Exhibition
· “ Beit al Fan” - Tripoli Al Mina, The Art House, 2004, Solo Exhibition
· “Lady of the Night” - Al Koubra, Ehden, 2005, Solo Exhibition
· Hotel al Kaderi - Zahle, 2005, Solo Exhibition
· Gallery of the Australian Art Center, 2005, Solo Exhibition
· Gallery Simaan -Tripoli al Bahsas, 2005, Permanent Exhibition.

Submitted by: zgharta.com team
Added: Thu Oct 06 2005