With a BFA in comic book design, the young Lebanese artist of Armenian origin continued her studies at Christie's New York. Her native city, Beirut, is a source of inspiration. Between instability and illusion, she finds refuge in the comic strip characters she creates, and which she will later adapt. Her work is a mixture of acrylic, ink and asexual creatures that imitate people in her environment in a language influenced by surrealism, German expressionism and especially the unconscious. She sees her art as a therapy for the endless struggle her generation is going through.
"Many people look at my art and feel uncomfortable, a wave of emotions. Some have described it as macabre but playful. They see their anxiety on canvas and it makes them feel less alone knowing that some people share their struggle."
After two group shows in 2019 and 2021, she presents "Abstinence" in October 2021, her first solo show in which she works to symbolize "the total restraint of feeling anything but complete numbness." Then, in "Functional Impairment" in May 2022, also in New York, she begins her reconciliation with her country. Her monsters dance on the canvas, celebrating life and conjuring death.
In December 2022, she presented her first solo exhibition in Beirut, "Indulgence", at the Mina Image Center. The show features seven large acrylic paintings representing the seven deadly sins, always with a rainbow of colours. At the same time, she is developing collaborations, including one with the brand DVF by Diane von Furstenberg, which commissioned her to create surreal flowers for its autumn-winter 2022 campaign.
For more information: https://www.alexandrabitar.me/
Photo: "Impaired Control", Alexandra Bitar, 2021, ink and acrylic, 30 x 40 cm.