From March 31 through April 17, Q Contemporary gallery will proudly present the solo exhibition of Lebanese designer and artist Pierre Koukjian, who is represented by Ayyam gallery (Beirut/Damascus/Dubai). Although celebrated in the world of fashion for his innovative jewelry, which includes an award-winning watch brand, he has been working in painting and sculptor for years. A natural link between the high-profile lifestyle he leads as an internationally-recognized designer, his painting is heavily influenced by Pop art and the boundless approach it maintains in interpreting the world. His most recent canvases, which comprise a captivating new series titled Impressive People, will be presented as a significant milestone in his career as a visual artist.
Impressive People, is a collection of oil paintings that iconifies artists, politicians and world leaders into intrepid oil on canvas works that possess an evident monumentality. This grandness can be found in the calculated ways in which he depicts his subjects, extracting the fundamental nature of what has made them so famous. Be it the staunch defiance of politicians like Lebanon’s Hassan Nasrallah and Walid Jumblatt or the divadom of such larger-than-life figures as Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid and celebrated Lebanese songstress Fairouz, Koukjian is able to strike the perfect balance between the physicality of his subject and the legend behind their fame. This is perhaps most true in his portraits of pop-stars such as Haifa Wehbe and Elissa, which exude an overt sexuality and are thoroughly tongue in cheek.