An Article by D. M. (664 words, 4 min. read)
On April 11, Gallery Art on 56th in Gemmayze opened its doors to a solo exhibition that feels like a fresh breath of mountain air. Early Morning Exercise by Wissam Beydoun is an ode to light, memory, and the quiet rituals that transform the ordinary into the poetic. A body of work imbued with warmth and luminosity, it invites viewers into a world where nature and nostalgia meet, filtered through the artist’s vivid imagination and masterful technique.
From Monochromes to Vivid Landscapes
The exhibition unfolds through a graceful balance between works in varied scales, ranging from more intimate pieces on paper to larger, expressive compositions in acrylic. The smaller formats—mostly rendered in acrylic, ink, and pastel—function like visual haikus. Each one is intimate, distilled, and fluid, offering glimpses into Beydoun’s morning meditations. The larger canvases maintain that same energy, yet expand the experience, embracing more generous strokes and deeper layers.
Monochromes sit side by side with vibrant landscapes. Some are filled with pale washes and subtle textures, while others explode in bold color. Yet, there is harmony throughout. Beydoun’s palette, whether subdued or bright, speaks of a deep understanding of nature’s rhythms and a profound emotional connection to place and memory.
Fluid Technique, Poetic Execution
What stands out immediately is the fluidity of Beydoun’s technique. There is nothing static in his compositions. The ink seems to breathe, the acrylic flows, and the pastel whispers. There’s a sense of spontaneity grounded by a practiced hand, a maturity that allows for both freedom and control.
The layering is key. Washes of pigment build upon one another like waves of light passing through trees. Colors blend and break apart, textures emerge and dissolve. The strength of his hand is matched by the sensitivity of his eye: a rare equilibrium.
Between Memory and Imagination
Beydoun’s works are not mere landscapes; they are recollections transformed. Born in Beirut in 1961, and a graduate of the Lebanese American University (LAU), where he earned the Sheikh Zayed Award distinction, the artist draws from a personal archive of childhood summers in the mountains of Bologna near Dhour El Choueir. His work, however, is not nostalgic in a sentimental way; it is more of a reinvention of memory through the filter of time, emotion, and artistic exploration.
“My childhood summers… were a gateway to a secret heaven,” Beydoun reflects. “At dawn, I would rise early to watch Mount Sannine transform with the shifting hues of sunrise or sunset.” These early hours, once filled with pine-scented air and shadow dances, are now the moments where his paintings are born. “Each morning is a quiet experiment—a ritual… to capture a mood, tell a story, or evoke a dream.”
A Daily Ritual, A Timeless Offering
Early Morning Exercise is more than a title; it’s a philosophy. Each work emerges from the artist’s dawn practice: a dialogue between memory and imagination, between nature and form. His imagined landscapes blur the lines between abstraction and the physical world, reflecting the ephemeral light of early morning and the clarity that comes with silence.
There is joy here, true, unpretentious joy. It seeps through the colors, hums in the compositions, and resonates in the viewer’s chest. It’s the joy of being alive in the world, of seeing beauty in bark and stone, of remembering the forest not for what it looked like, but for how it felt.
A Celebration of Light and Life
With Early Morning Exercise, Wissam Beydoun offers more than an exhibition; he offers an invitation to pause, to observe, to feel. His visual poetry brings the magic of early light and the serenity of a solitary walk through nature. Through skillful technique, rich emotional layers, and a harmonious palette, he succeeds in capturing something universal: the quiet beauty of a morning well spent, and the sacred power of remembering.
This is a show that speaks softly, yet lingers loudly. It is, simply put, beautiful.
