George Daou

IN GEORGE DAOU'S APOCALYPTIC SCENES













IN INSTA-STAR MATT CRUMP'S "MINIMAL BEIRUT" SERIES





IN MAZEN KERBAJ'S ICONIC COMIC STYLE

IN ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S MOST EXPENSIVE PAINTINGS

IN ANTHONY SAROUFIM'S MASSIVE CAMERA OBSCURA

Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers





IN HATTY PEDDER'S WORK OF LUXURY AND GLAM

IN CAROLINE TABET'S SERIES ON BEIRUT'S LOST SPACES

Photographer Caroline Tabet explores the interior of the Dome in "Lost Spaces", a series on places that are disappearing. Haunting black-and-white images drown you with the inevitable eeriness of being inside an empty theatre - let alone the Egg.





Since we're in an egg-tastic mood for Easter, let's take a moment to remember the country's largest egg. Organic, totally local (but hardly fresh) - Beirut's Dome stands still, cracked just enough to survive, silently idle.But in art, it's as alive as ever. Whether its bittersweet nostalgia or sheer political fascination, emotional attachment to it is incredibly strong. Beirut's Egg (Dome,, S, Beirut City Centre, or whatever term or language you go by) was erected in the 1960s and continues to be a heartbroken muse for works of art, documentary, poetry and architecture. It seems that all Lebanese architects want to call dibs on the reconstruction and it's been the subject of student projects for years.The Egg holds monumental significance for the Lebanese, including youth born after the Civil War. Its central location along with storytelling and its bipolar association with both Beirut's "golden" days and the war have made it a national icon and landmark and people seem to discuss its history with the same tone and speculation they reserve for topics like The Bermuda Triangle and the supernatural. The fascination isn't all from its heritage; its Brutalist structure has been compared to works by Le Corbusier and looks like a futuristic anachronism against the surrounding buildings.Center and snug right in the so-called heart of Downtown Beirut - The Egg got lucky to snag a front-row seat to Lebanon's Golden Era, its Civil War and all the turmoil, with huge-scale reconstruction and political controversy in between. But wait - the show's not over yet. With prime access to the garbage protests, it might just be starting.This remarkable witness of an egg has had its share of glory and even more so, its share of utter sorrow. It looks so pressurized, simmering with ill-fated anxiety as though its bubbly shape might pop at the drop of a needle.Artists have tackled the subject continuously each with their medium of choice, their unique touch, and their personal interpretation. But all the works strangely have one thing in common: they're eerie beyond belief, even when in neon pink.Scroll down to see how this phenomenon of a structure made its way to the works of some of the country's most prolific artists.Though one would think the Egg is harmed more than it is harmful, digital artist George Daou features it as a momentous, catastrophic organism seemingly invading the city.Self-proclaimed "candy-colored minimalist" and one of TIME's top 50 Instagrammers, Matt Crump hit Beirut in 2015 and collaborated with Plastik Magazine creative director Ryan Houssari for the series Minimal Beirut . A neon pink one stands out.In an eerily-haunting panel in Mazen Kerbaj's 2013 comic book, the Dome is cross-hatched alongside Albert Camus' opening line of "mother died today" fromThe Egg once again takes the spotlight, this time in Lebanese painter Ayman Baalbaki'sThe painting takes inspiration from the Civil War and shows the Egg standing still in Baalbaki's impressionist style. Baalbaki lived 20 years of the war and much of his work centers on the theme of destruction, so naturally the Egg would make it into his portfolio.the painting is about to be auctioned off at auction house Bonhams' upcoming sale in April, and its estimate bid is at $85,000-142,000. According to Bonhams, "at 41, Baalbaki has achieved the highest price at auction for a contemporary Lebanese artist".The camera obscura is a centuries-old optical device and the predecessor to the camera. Through a darkened box - be it a shoe-box or a giant structure - light from outside enters through holes in the box and the actual scene outside is reproduced inside. To understand Anthony Saroufim's work, you'd have to understand the optical mechanism first.In Anthony Saroufim's proposal project, the structure of the Egg acts as the darkened box in a massive camera obscura. Magnifying lens are placed on the bullet holes so that visitors would be able to see the entire exterior landscape projected inside as though a live movie. Many architects have proposed redesigns for the Egg but Anthony's is possibly the least obstructive to the dome's identity.In a more celebratory light, Dubai-based British artist Hatty Pedder features The Egg as the city's hotspot, dazzling with a red carpet, a horde of paparazzi and an sky-strung chandelier.The full series titled "Khosh Bosh" rebuilds Beirut's identity and all its contradictions in Hatty Pedder's whimsical style of painting. See it here