Written by LIAM SIBAI

Born in picturesque Rachana, Lebanon, in 1969, Anachar Basbous emerged into a setting rich with artistic legacy. Rachana was the open workspace and outdoor museum where Michel and Alfred Basbous, Anachar’s father and uncle, created and displayed their work, as well as owned property. The Basbouses’ property in Rachana served as the idyllic backdrop for an open-air theatre that hosted the Rashana Festivals—Lebanon's inaugural theater festival, co-founded by Antoine Moultaka, and Michel Basbous in 1961. Before Anachar's birth, Rachana had already become a cultural hub, drawing intellectuals, artists, and politicians, including former Lebanese president Camille Chamoun ¹ .

Anachar was destined to live a life of art and esteem. So much so that at age ten, Anachar sculpted his first piece, which resembled much of his father’s art. One year later, Michel Basbous died of lung cancer, which was an overwhelming event in the young Anachar’s life. Yet, his mother, Thérèse Aouad Basbous, was there to impart the spirit of her lost husband onto her only son. Thérèse was a poet ² and a playwright ³ . She and Michel Basbous were very close, both personally and professionally, always in each other's studios. Anachar felt his father’s presence through his mother’s rearing, which pushed him further in the direction of the arts.

At first, however, Anachar pursued not art, but architecture. In 1988, Anachar began an Architecture bachelor’s degree at Académie Libanaise des Beaux-Arts (ALBA). He never completed this degree because one year later, Anachar and Thérèse had to take an airboat to Cyprus, fleeing the ongoing civil war in Lebanon. After landing on the island, Anachar made his way to France, where he studied architectural wall design at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et des Métiers d'Art, in Paris.

His formal education in France imbued the artist with a fascination with and inclination to produce mosaics. When he returned to Lebanon after the civil war in 1992, he focused on producing mosaics in the modernist style, working against the currents of Roman and Byzantine mosaics which were popular in Lebanon at the time. Anachar was often commissioned to produce such mosaics or design facades for different architectural projects. Anachar, however, sometimes felt underwhelmed by this occupation.

Consequently, in 1995, he returned to sculpting. He mostly produced sculptures in the manner of the Basbouses, which largely comprised organic sculptures that had little geometric saliency. Inspired by his father’s practice, Anachar also experimented with different materials such as aluminum and stone, looking for new ways to engage them. Nonetheless, his predecessors’ influence was ever-present in his art and it weighed heavy on Anachar. He struggled to find his own artistic voice. Regardless, he continued to experiment, paving a unique path, while continuing to take commissions based on his traditional manner.

In 2008, Anachar was given a remarkable commission. He was tasked to undertake a profoundly important assignment: to create three bronze monuments commemorating the life and loss of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, mounted at the site of his assassination. The pieces were a torch composed of various Lebanese flags, a lifelike sculpture of Rafic Al Hariri, based on a photograph taken in his Koreitem palace garden, and a column exhibiting an ornamental patterned quality, reflecting Anachar's formal training in France. The column also included calligraphy of famous quotes by the martyred Prime Minister and lyrics from the Lebanese national anthem. The column and the mimetic sculpture are placed in a small garden that is a recreation of the garden in the aforementioned picture

This choice of the photograph and the garden came from Nazek Al Hariri, the wife of former Lebanese Prime Minister, the late Rafic Al Hariri. The artist had to take into consideration many such preferences of the Hariri family when conceiving the pieces. Anachar even had to scrap many of his original ideas, such as including a sculpture of an olive tree among the pieces. The project was completed under immense pressure. The Beirut municipality wanted to re-cement the road where Hariri was assassinated, so Basbous had to be commissioned by the family and complete the project before the municipality could start. A task that should have taken 18 months, was completed in six.

Before and after this project, Anachar mostly displayed his more artistic, non-commissioned, sculptures in the Rachana family museum. For a long time, this was more than enough for the artist, but Anachar still wanted to break free from his family’s shadow and as part of his attempted
severance, he decided to exhibit his art elsewhere. In 2012, he held his first solo exhibitions outside of Rachana, at the Agial Art Gallery and Zeitouna Bay in Beirut. Throughout the 2010s, he continued to do so in different spaces in the UAE, France, and Lebanon.

After a 2018 exhibition, Anachar realized that he could skillfully sculpt materials ⁴ such as wood, aluminum, and bronze into the same form, contrary to what his father had believed ⁵ . This is how he broke out of his Basbous influence. He desired to see every possible iteration of a singular shape in different materials and make them identical.

This method of variation and reiteration is definitive of Seriality, as formulated by Lebanese philosopher Fares Chalabi ⁶ , a notion that is indispensable to understanding Anachar’s art. Seriality, often referred to as “decomposition” by Anachar ⁷ , is a way of making art in which the artist produces several variations of a singular geometric structure, such as a concave disk or a cube. Variations could consist of repeatedly changing the material from which a piece is made, as Anachar does in the Untitled (2014) and Untitled (2018) ⁸ , which both feature concave disks, the former made of steel and the latter made of marble. Seriality can also be achieved by repeatedly subtracting different elements
of a geometric structure, as Sol Le Witt does in Incomplete Open Cubes, a series that Anachar greatly admires. Anachar made similar subtractions in the bronze Untitled (2015), which slices concave disks in half and sticks them together in a manner similar to the 2014 and 2018 pieces. Anachar also varies the sizes of the disks within the same work, as seen in both Untitled (2014) and Untitled (2018), also an example of Seriality.

Another example of the use of Seriality in Anachar’s work can be seen in the ubiquitously discussed fact that his works appear completely different when observed from varying angles ⁹ . In other words, the work’s appearance varies when the point of view is reiterated. Anachar sometimes shares various photos of the same work taken from different angles with several art collectors who are fond of his art. When he does so, they often mistake the photographs of the same work taken from different angles for photographs of several works. In a recent interview, artist Anachar expressed:

"While sculpting, I think in 360 degrees”.

Emphasizing the importance of looking at his work from different angles, and therefore, the importance of seeing his work in person rather than merely through images

Other aspects of Anachar’s work, however, are better expressed in photographs. Light and shadow, when angled correctly serve to contour and punctuate the surfaces and material quality of sculptures like Untitled, 2014 and Untitled, 2015. An audience member attending in person might not look at the piece from the right angle, but a photograph taken from that correct angle would immortalize this effect as part of the art piece. In a personal interview, Anachar once said,

“My work is very architectural”

in reference to his consideration of light, material, and three dimensionality in sculpting ¹⁰ .

Today, Anachar Basbous lives in Rachana and continues to embrace the rich site’s heritage and culture while also pushing it forward, finding new ways to engage material, light, and even concept.

Edited by Wafa Roz & Elsie Labban

<sup>Notes:

1</sup> Liam Sibai, Interview with Anachar Basbous, other, The Dalloul Art Foundation, October 11, 2023.

² “Anachar Basbous,” Cultural Narratives, October 20, 2022, https://www.culturalnarratives.net/anachar-basbous/. 

³ Therese Awad Basbous - Part1, YouTube (MTV, 2009)

⁴ “Creations,” Anachar Basbous, accessed October 15, 2023, anacharbasbous.com 

⁵ “Creation,” Anachar Basbous, accessed October 15, 2023, anacharbasbous.com 

⁶ 12.Deleuze : Series of Time / Brain, Fabulation, and Serial Images, YouTube (YouTube, 2021),

⁷ Anachar Basbous, YouTube (Selections Publishing, 2022),

⁸ “Anachar Basbous,” Agial Art Gallery & Saleh Barakat Gallery - Basbous, anachar, accessed December 9,2023, www.salehbarakatgallery.com 

⁹ Talk Of The Town - Anachar Basbous 28/06/2012, YouTube (MTV Lebanon, 2012)

¹⁰ Liam Sibai, Interview with Anachar Basbous, other, The Dalloul Art Foundation, October 11, 2023.

Bibliography

¹² Deleuze : Series of Time / Brain, Fabulation, and Serial Images. YouTube. YouTube, 2021. 

American, Sol LeWitt. “Sol LeWitt: Incomplete Open Cubes.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed October 15, 2023. www.metmuseum.org/art/ 

Anachar Basbous. YouTube. Selections Publishing, 2022.

“Anachar Basbous.” Cultural Narratives, October 20, 2022. www.culturalnarratives.com 

“Anachar Basbous.” Agial Art Gallery & Saleh Barakat Gallery - Basbous, anachar. Accessed December 9, 2023. www.salehbarakatgallery.com 

“Biography.” Biography - Anachar Basbous. Accessed October 14, 2023. anacharbasbous.com 

“Creation.” Anachar Basbous. Accessed October 15, 2023. anacharbasbous.com 

“Creations.” Anachar Basbous. Accessed October 15, 2023. anacharbasbous.com 

“Rachana.” Rachana - Anachar Basbous. Accessed October 14, 2023. anacharbasbous.com

Sibai, Liam. Interview with Anachar Basbous. Other. The Dalloul Art Foundation, October 11, 2023.

Talk Of The Town - Anachar Basbous 28/06/2012. YouTube. MTV Lebanon, 2012.

Therese Awad Basbous - Part1. YouTube. MTV, 2009.