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