Shams Safieddine presents his first solo exhibition as part of CATAPULT.visual’arts at Artlab

About Shams Safieddine Shams Safieddine (b. 1998) is a painter and visual artist. Born in Tyre, he has moved to Beirut to pursue a degree in Fine Arts at the Lebanese University, and has graduated with a BA in 2019. His work is inspired by personal experiences that transpire into existentialism, expressing his views on human behaviour and rationale through drawing and painting. While currently enrolled in Beirut Printmaking Studio’s residency programme, he is experimenting with different materials and forms of artistic expression; his interest in conceptual art has called for his inclusion of mediums such as sound and photography to create sensory-provoking installations and sculptures for his upcoming projects. In addition, he is working as an instructor, holding painting workshops in Beirut. Safieddine has shown at an event held by the US Embassy in Beirut (2018) and is holding his first solo exhibition at Artlab Gallery (2022). Artist Statement, Red Chairs I am seated. 

Often slightly uncomfortable, the conversation sharpens, and the crackle of plastic becomes obnoxiously audible. I have been lost in a sea of disputes and amicability, all the while attempting to remain aware, attentive. I am calmed by the familiarity of the happening. I am standing. I am observing, and cannot but agree with the silence. Although characterful, powerful, it is nonetheless lacking, inanimate. I find myself in contemplation, unburdening in the presence of the cause of every thought I’ve had thus far. I am lost for words – silent again – as I have been in every situation of accompaniment. In recurring adaptation to a new space, I have found myself searching for a sense of familiarity – settings that I can appropriate. I have learned to remain attentive, to situate myself vis-a-vis a singular constant, the Red Chair: all-powerful yet mightily inanimate. Whether in absence of a leg or in adornment of velvet a coat, the Red Chair has witnessed a cycle of crises, and has heard the narratives beyond their surface. It has stripped its sitter of their traits and attachments, and has inspected, with me, the world around. I wonder, who will stay seated, and who will stand up.