Young Lebanese-Monacan artist Sheikha Awad has been attracting attention with her first solo exhibition in “Interactions, Ode to J,” showing at Monaco’s Le Meridian Beach Plaza.
This ongoing project, which started in 2015, has resulted in about 150 paintings, 23 of which are on show. Having caught the eye of Spanish curator Mariana De Vasconcelos on Instagram, Awad was offered a three-month show at the hotel’s young artist corner. The 22-year-old says her debut deals with putting emotions on canvas.
“My exhibition tells a story you can easily grasp, and it’s one of interactions and love,” Awad said. “This concept was for people to look at my work and create a story within the characters/forms in my paintings.
“It was an ode to my grandma Joyce, who was an artist as well,” she added. “The interactions between the forms are my way of communication to my loved ones, or people who you wish you could have a conversation with but are not physically present by your side.”
When Awad’s grandmother passed away in 2014, she was significantly affected by her loss and found solace in her grandmother’s artwork.
“When I started getting interested in art, I took the paintbrush and thought to myself I should continue my grandmother’s legacy,” she said. “She always knew I was an artist and often told my mother that I am part of this artistic world ... I had never held a paintbrush before.
“I’m sad that she was never able to see a single of my paintings,” she added, “and this first solo show is an homage to her. I am telling her ‘Teta, you were so right!’”
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Awad’s work leans toward the abstract and she rarely plans her pieces in advance. They’re bright and utilize bold strokes, often with human-like figures featuring in the paintings. “I have nothing in mind or no pre-visual of the final work,” Awad said. “I only base my imagination on the potent recurring theme of interaction and love. From there, I let my imagination dominate my hand ... I never know what will manifest.
“I love using vivid colors as for me they represent life,” she added. “On any given day, I can change the interpretation of my painting, according to my outlook in that particular moment.
“Three or four canvases can be very similar as the theme or message is recurrent, then you can see the story line within them,” Awad continued. “I can’t really describe any of my paintings as they are a direct interaction between my subconscious and the canvas and they can be interpreted subjectively according to the person looking at them.”
While she has no solid plans for her next series, Awad says she hopes to show her work in Lebanon.
“I feel very close to my country and heritage because my family really kept in touch with the culture,” she said. “Middle Eastern people, for me, are the most open-minded and kindhearted I have ever met and it would be an honor for me to be able to influence them with my work in the near future.”
This article has been adapted from its original source.
