Q and A with Ghazi Baker (690 words 4 min.read )
1. Can you reflect on a childhood memory that may have driven you or influenced you to become an artist?
I’ve always been drawn to the act of mark-making — even as a child, I was constantly sketching, inventing characters, creating little internal worlds. One vivid memory is of drawing for hours under the dining table, of course this was during one of the many wars inflicted on Lebanon, turning the floor into a kind of private mural space. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone — it was a need, not a performance. That quiet obsession with lines and the way they could shape space or narrative — I think that never really left me. It just evolved. Looking back, it’s clear that those early, almost compulsive acts of drawing were the foundation for everything that came after.
2. Your strong presence at the international platform adds a dimension to your valuable presence within the art scene in Lebanon. Can you compare and contrast how your work is perceived internationally versus locally?
Internationally, the work is often approached through a lens of formal analysis — there’s a strong focus on the technique, the density, the psychological tension. I find viewers abroad tend to interpret the pieces through broader cultural or philosophical frameworks, which opens up interesting dialogues. Locally, the perception is more layered — there’s familiarity with the emotional frequency beneath the chaos. Even if I don’t make overt cultural references, there’s an undercurrent of tension, fragmentation, and resilience that resonates on a more intuitive level here. So while the interpretations vary, both spaces offer something essential — one brings distance and critical reflection, the other brings a kind of visceral recognition.
3. If you were to give advice to an architect who wants to become a full-time artist, what would that advice be?
First: unlearn, but selectively. Architecture is a powerful discipline — it gives you structure, discipline, an understanding of spatial logic. But it can also be rigid, overly solution-based. Art operates differently. It thrives on open questions, ambiguity, contradictions. My advice would be to use your architectural training as a toolkit, not a rulebook. Be willing to let go of the need to “solve” and instead follow intuition, obsession, and even error. Don’t be afraid of failure — in art, that’s often where the real ideas are hiding.
4. We can guess that you spend a lot of time researching and experimenting, a fact that is reflected in your work. How does your personality help in guiding you to formulate a vision as to what your next project or approach is going to be?
I’m someone who operates on internal pressure — I follow ideas until they exhaust themselves, then I pivot. There’s always this mental backlog of visual, emotional, and conceptual material building up in me. My curiosity tends to guide the research — whether it’s into psychology, literature, old comics, or obscure machinery. But I never start with a clean “concept.” It begins with drawing, with movement, with tension in the hand. The vision comes through the process, not before it. I think my personality feeds that — I’m obsessive but open, structured but anti-linear. That duality helps me generate work that’s dense but alive.
5. Have you experimented with sculpting (we have seen your beautiful recent marathon trophy design) and is this a direction that we might see you exploring anytime soon?
Yes — sculpting has always been lurking in the background, and that marathon trophy project gave me a concrete opportunity to step into three dimensions. It forced me to think about form, material, and physical weight in a way that was both architectural and instinctual. I’m definitely interested in pushing that further — not just in terms of objects, but potentially immersive installations or hybrid forms that sit between drawing, sculpture, and machine. Sculpture activates space differently, and I’m curious to see how my language — which is so line-based and psychological — might evolve when it’s forced into physical volume and tactile interaction. I hope the three sculptures I will display on the 22nd of May at my solo show, will positively surprise people .
