LONDON.- Saatchi Yates is now opening the second solo show by Lebanese artist Omar El Lahib. Avoiding explicit meanings, El Lahib invites viewers to construct their own interpretations, blurring the line between fantasy and reality. Influenced by the great Dutch masters as well as Gustav Klimt and Edvard Munch, his primal creative process results in dark, enigmatic landscapes punctuated by vibrant colours and abstract forms. Figures, particularly ethereal women, serve as conduits to connect viewers to the paintings' dreamlike universe, transcending conventional gender roles. El Lahib's preference for the nocturnal reflects a belief in its transformative magic, where nature and humanity intertwine in silent communion. Working out of his studio in Cologne, his paintings open a dialogue between artist and nature, offering a glimpse into boundless possibilities.

“I think Omar El Lahib would rather sleep during the day and stay up all night,’ Dina Bizri Zaki comments, ‘he does not seem that fond of daytime, maybe it is too earth-bound. The night unfolds as a magical realm where life undergoes perpetual reimagining through his prism. It is a realm where everything has the potential to change, experience transformation, and evolve into something or someone entirely different.’

Born in Sidon, Lebanon in 1986, El Lahib studied Fine Art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf before moving to Cologne with his wife and children. El Lahib notes the biggest benefit of his time at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, was holding serious and focussed discussions about his paintings, with already ‘successful’ painters,. Noting that ‘paintings don’t arise in a vacuum,’ he names Prof. Tomma Abts, Prof. Siegfried Anzienger, Prof. Peter Doig, Prof. Tal R, Prof. Andreas Schulze, as well as their numerous students as valued interlocutors and colleagues.

Omar El Lahib, “My painting is not primarily about sunflowers, or landscapes, or nature. For me, it's about painting and colour, about form and accuracy. It is also especially about the human being, with all his tributes! Love and hate, jealousy, pride, fear and joy and much more. All in all, all things that occur in painting are equally important to me. Be it the figure, the landscape, heaven and earth. Everything serves only to concentrate the painting. If not, it will be painted over!”

Dina Bizri Zaki comments, “Omar’s figures inhabit a universe illuminated by stars and radiant, otherworldly flowers. What sets their world apart is its lack of adherence to conventional logic, yet, paradoxically, this deviation appears inconsequential as everything coexists harmoniously without it. The artist skillfully navigates the realm of form and abstraction, utilising these figures not as literal representations but as conduits to evoke a connection between the viewer and the intangible, dreamlike universe depicted on the canvas.’

SAATCHI YATES

Saatchi Yates is a commercial gallery founded by Phoebe Saatchi Yates and Arthur Yates which opened in London’s Mayfair in October 2020. Over the past two years, the gallery has gained a strong reputation for representing and showcasing emerging artists, staging large-scale exhibitions as well as presenting blue-chip contemporary art drawn from leading private collections. In 2023, Saatchi Yates departed its location on Cork Street with a move to Bury Street, St James's. The new 12,000 square foot ground floor gallery space at the heart of London’s unrivaled neighbourhood for both Contemporary and Classical art. With a large main gallery for the display of their primary artists, as well as two private rooms to showcase secondary artworks from world-renownded artists.

Saatchi Yates
Omar El-Lahib
March 6th - April 10th, 2024