Creative endeavour

Walking through the buoyant Beirut Art Fair on its opening night last month, one could understand why the city has been featured as one of 12 worldwide to watch for contemporary art according to a new book published by Phaidon Press, titled “Art Cities of the future: 21st-century Avant Gardes”. Lebanese artistic talent has even caught the attention of renowned British art collector Charles Saatchi, the backer of Britain’s richest living artist Damien Hirst. Saatchi has amassed work from Lebanese arists including Hussein Madi and Zena Assi in his Middle Eastern art collection. Many were put up for online auction last month. Facing mighty neighbors such as Dubai and Doha, which have significant financial muscle and a keen interest in promoting their image as ‘art savvy’ destinations, Lebanon’s artistic talent is still taking a back row seat on the international art scene. But the country’s gallerists are not sitting idle.