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Lot Essay
In the many artistic roles Marwan holds, he performed like a theatre director orchestrating a certain ongoing play, a play he wants us to be part of as viewers. We are invited to contemplate Manara 1, a work that is not a typical composition from his Marionette series. She is seated, fully dressed in a colourful elegant attire, with strong suggestive red lips, and a hand pulled upwards while the second is rested.
Is she a real Marionette, totally numb to her existing surroundings? Or is she part of a larger sedative existence of the present social scene?
The Marionettes series first appeared in Marwan’s oeuvre from 1978 to 1983, and was an important phase in his artistic production. Around twenty-five years later, in 2006, he returned to this theme. By examining closely the Marionettes works, old and new, one can also understand the ongoing Head series that was Marwan’s lifelong infatuation. These seated figures, sometimes in full bloom, and at other times in half broken bodies, are built on the surface of the canvas in pieces, and treated in his body of work as still life compositions. Here we see instead of the famous skulls of the 17th century Al-Duma series, his dolls are both alive and dead, becoming his own way of painting a memento mori. This crucial quest is to explore who is in control of this puppet and its fate. Who is the real master mind behind this silliness, the stillness, and the void emotion this doll is evoking in the viewer at the stage of life. This conjures the stage of Syrians and the greater Middle East, as Marwan looked at this region as a theatrical stage.
Marwan Kassab Bachi was originally from Syria but spent most of his life in Berlin, Germany, He managed to create a strong position for himself within the art world.
Before he entered the art world, Marwan studied Arabic literature at Damascus University. In 1957, he moved to Berlin, Germany, where he began to learn and later teach painting. Marwan has exhibited widely in Germany and across the borders. At the age of 81, Marwan passed away in 2016, and he had fulfilled his dreams by creating art that will continue to live.
Is she a real Marionette, totally numb to her existing surroundings? Or is she part of a larger sedative existence of the present social scene?
The Marionettes series first appeared in Marwan’s oeuvre from 1978 to 1983, and was an important phase in his artistic production. Around twenty-five years later, in 2006, he returned to this theme. By examining closely the Marionettes works, old and new, one can also understand the ongoing Head series that was Marwan’s lifelong infatuation. These seated figures, sometimes in full bloom, and at other times in half broken bodies, are built on the surface of the canvas in pieces, and treated in his body of work as still life compositions. Here we see instead of the famous skulls of the 17th century Al-Duma series, his dolls are both alive and dead, becoming his own way of painting a memento mori. This crucial quest is to explore who is in control of this puppet and its fate. Who is the real master mind behind this silliness, the stillness, and the void emotion this doll is evoking in the viewer at the stage of life. This conjures the stage of Syrians and the greater Middle East, as Marwan looked at this region as a theatrical stage.
Marwan Kassab Bachi was originally from Syria but spent most of his life in Berlin, Germany, He managed to create a strong position for himself within the art world.
Before he entered the art world, Marwan studied Arabic literature at Damascus University. In 1957, he moved to Berlin, Germany, where he began to learn and later teach painting. Marwan has exhibited widely in Germany and across the borders. At the age of 81, Marwan passed away in 2016, and he had fulfilled his dreams by creating art that will continue to live.