Joe Kesrouani

Born in Beirut in 1968, architect by trade, Joe Kesrouani is a self taught painter and photographer. Since the late 1990s he has been showing his work regularly, often mounting one or two solo exhibitions a year, along with participating in key group shows in Beirut and Europe. He spins records in his spare time. Just as a DJ may thread the vocals or bass lines of one track into the rhythmic structure of another, he sometimes takes the simple curve of one image and uses it to build another. It is this ability to mix up so many disciplines at once that gives his paintings their edge, and justifies their reprise in a viewer's valuable space and time.

"The Drone Party"

I worked on this painting under siege and sometimes only with a candle to light. In a way, I felt I was re-living some of my darkest moments from childhood, however I was alone this time. I am deeply disappointed and angry... It seems that the Lebanese people cannot have an individual self opinion about the situation they are living despite all their past experiences. Instead, they choose to join different political parties in order to exist. This painting sticks to Lebanon's history, constantly reminding me the reason why I left Beirut to Paris in the late nineties.