consequences of war, and evolving to universal
You have spoken of the difficulty in finding buyers
expressions on human brutality and suffering. They
for your work – from individual collectors as well
serve as weapons in the fight against violence and war
as museums. What do you see as the reasons for
in the world. They traveled through various countries
this difficulty?
in Latin America and worldwide as “Journey of Art
for Peace.” After the end of the Gulf War a series of
Various factors affected by a commercial system that
exhibitions with works on that war were held in
estrange society from its artists and their works. Also
Kuwait in 1991-92. I spent nearly two years holding
the absence of an established art or national cultural
shows in Kuwait and traveling through most of the
agency or policy gave way to the bureaucratic
countries in the Middle East. The attempts to organize
imperative of commercial art establishments and
a show in Lebanon, however, never materialized – for
institutions having a lot of power and dominance over
a variety of different reasons stemming from some
the art scene. They focus mostly on famous names
ongoing conflicts, general public malaise from the
and ignore many great works. It’s almost impossible
long war, and lack of art space for large-scale work.
to bring before the public a work that is not
commercially promoted.