PYO holds exhibition for young talents

BEIRUT - Alternative staff

November 2003

The youth wing of Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) held an exhibition for the artwork of five Arab artists at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

The Progressive Youth Organization, operating in AUB under the banner of the Communications Club, inaugurated on Wednesday a three-day exhibition for the work of Lebanon’s Rabih Safi and Raja al-Banna, Syria’s Ahmad Kleij and Yehia al-Warraq and Iraq’s Ali Abbas.

Students flooded the university’s Common Room in West Hall to inspect paintings and listen to comments from their respective artists.

“The idea behind this exhibition was to revive communication through art,” according to Rabih Safi, one of the artist. Safi told The Daily Star that organizers told them that “there were several means of communication with students” and that “communication shouldn’t be restricted to political debates and lectures.”

Safi added that they did have plenty of time to organize the event, “otherwise we would have invited more artists to display more than the exhibition’s 33 paintings.” He also said that these paintings were not for sale. “The idea is to sense the students reaction and discuss art. Perhaps in other exhibition, we may put our work on sale.”

According to the 25-year-old artist, several students were interested in our work but many others only took a quick tour. “The five of us are trying to spend as much time as we can so that we have the opportunity to talk art with interested students and teachers.”

Safi argued that the big number of visitors, relative success and assistance they received from the university’s Student Affairs Office made them think of sponsoring another exhibition, with a bigger number of paintings and artists, in the coming future.

“At least there are a few people who support artists in this part of the world and admire our work,” said Safi.