An Article by A. V. (778 words, 4 min. read)
Agial Art Gallery hosts Lebanese artist Mazen Rifai who presents Amorous Colors, a solo exhibition that was inaugurated on January 16th 2024, and that delves into the emotional and sensory power of color.
Deeply connected to his homeland, Baalbek, Rifai’s work captures the interplay of light, memory, and form, transcending physical landscapes to evoke a timeless essence. His paintings are not mere depictions of place; they are meditations on the human spirit, where colors shape emotions and transform space. His ability to balance structure and fluidity results in works that feel at once deeply personal and universally resonant.
A Dialogue Between Structure and Emotion
Rifai’s art reflects a maturity shaped by decades of dedication. His background in architecture informs his compositions, allowing him to balance structured forms with organic movement. His paintings are built on a foundation of contrast—between softness and sharpness, clarity and mystery, light and shadow—immersing the viewer in a world where emotions take on visual form.
Each piece in Amorous Colors is a rhythmic interplay of hues and forms. Some works feature distinct color fields, with warm and cool tones coexisting in tension and harmony. Others dissolve the boundaries between colors, creating a sense of fluidity and depth. Rifai’s brushwork varies between bold, gestural strokes and delicate, blended layers, revealing an artist who understands the power of restraint as much as expression. His paintings carry a quiet dynamism, as if the colors themselves are in motion, shifting with the viewer’s gaze.
Art as Emotion, Art as Experience
Rifai’s artistic approach carries echoes of Etel Adnan and Nicolas de Staël, two modernist painters known for their evocative use of color and abstraction. Like Adnan, he embraces the poetic power of color, distilling Lebanese landscapes into pure emotion. His compositions resist literal representation, instead allowing vibrant planes of color to convey a sense of place and memory.
At the same time, Rifai’s work bears the influence of de Staël, particularly in his handling of form and texture. He constructs his paintings through layered blocks of color, using impasto techniques to add depth and dimension. Yet, while de Staël’s work often carries an existential weight, Rifai’s colors lean toward luminosity, inviting the viewer into an uplifting, transformative experience. His brushstrokes create a dynamic sense of movement, as if capturing fleeting moments of light and sensation.
The Fusion of Painting and Tapestry
A significant feature of Amorous Colors is Rifai’s expansion into textile art. Alongside his paintings, the exhibition includes tapestries woven with the same rhythmic compositions and chromatic harmonies. This interplay between canvas and fabric highlights his fascination with texture and materiality, reinforcing the timeless nature of his vision. The tapestries add another layer to Rifai’s exploration of color, allowing viewers to experience his work in a different medium; one that carries a tactile quality and a connection to traditional craftsmanship.
Through this fusion of painting and textile, Rifai extends the language of color into a new dimension, bridging tradition with contemporary expression. His works invite viewers to not only see but feel the interplay of hues, as they would with the textures of the landscapes he so often evokes.
About Mazen Rifai
Born in Baalbek in 1957, Mazen Rifai is a painter and architect based in Beirut. He holds degrees in interior architecture from the Lebanese University and Fine Arts from the Academia de Macerata, Italy. His career spans decades, from serving as a professor and head of the Fine Arts department at the Lebanese University to his role as art director at Engineers, Consulting & Contracting.
Rifai has exhibited widely in Beirut and Paris, with showcases at Galerie Rochane, Agial Art Gallery, and Galerie Alex Menem, among others. He has also participated in numerous editions of the Sursock Museum’s Salon d’Automne since 1974. Beyond the art world, he contributed to the Beirut Central District Reconstruction Plan and is a member of the Baalbeck International Festival Committee. His published books, Baalbeck in Black and White (2007) and Baalbeck 1981-2011 (2011), reflect his deep connection to the region and its cultural heritage.
A Celebration of Color and Memory
Through Amorous Colors, Rifai invites audiences into a world where color is a living force, one that weaves together memory, light, and the emotional landscapes of the human soul. His work stands as a testament to the enduring power of abstraction, proving that within the simplest arrangements of color and form, entire worlds of feeling can be contained. Whether through the rich, layered textures of his paintings or the woven intricacies of his tapestries, Rifai continues to push the boundaries of how color is seen, felt, and remembered.
