ART

Salwa Zeidan: The multi-dimensional visionary artist.

By Ruth Sielberg

Salwa Zeidan explains: "My paintings are formed out of my impressions, my observations and my emotional experiences. I see reality as an endless process of conflicts and decisions, therefore the tonality of experience can never be resolved in a definitive way. The texture of life is like the surface of a block of clay; it is shaped and molded by the circumstances of daily conflicts, personal and collective catastrophes and individual questioning. My work lives on this quest until it becomes a rite of realisation, a struggle for the possibility to order the sensation of consciousness." Ms. Zeidan is a Lebanese artist with a cosmopolitan education and understanding of European illustrative arts. Thus, her artistic creativity emanates from an explosion and infusion of convergent and divergent blend of innovative artistic visions. The strokes are limpid, yet powerful in their fragile and delicate elegance.

Partially spiritual, globally intellectual and sensitively lyrical, Zeidan's artistic evocation is sublime. Her soul and struggles are part of her work. It was not easy for this Lebanese artist living and working in tumultuous Lebanon to make her mark on the international art landscape. Her determination to succeed and insatiable appetite for esthetic discovery and innovative expressions landed her in Italy, at the Biennale 2004. It was a smart and a daring move, for the juried committee did not hesitate to recognize her superb talent and award her the 4th international place at this prestigious competition. She returned home with an award.

Ms. Zeidan is a sensitive and spiritual artist. However, this sensitivity and flair of spirituality are translated into intellectual lyricism in her compositions. On the surface, her paintings might appear simplistic. But a deeper look at the conceptual structure of her figures reveal a divergent and convergent mirror of inner personal emotions and aspirations. Ms. Zeidan is a world-class artist at many levels. The future is bright for Ms. Zeidan, as long as the sun will keep on warming up her tender soul and bright mind.

Ruth Sielberg, the Monthly Herald, London, March 3, 2004