Emotional Layers

Sara Chaar, Palette of the Past, cold wax and oil on canvas, 150 × 200cm

There is something about Lebanese artist Sara Chaar’s work that is ethereal. It is both light and deep, as if several layers of emotions are flowing simultaneously through her canvases, not always compatible but harmonious, each in their own realm within the painting.

Sara Chaar, Feels Like an Amniotic Sac, cold wax and oil on canvas, 200 x 150cm

I first discovered Chaar’s work at the South Kensington (London) gallery of a good friend and wonderful gallerist, Marie Jose Honein - who also hails from Lebanon - and have been captivated by it ever since.

Recently, at the gallery’s third anniversary party which also marked the opening of “Emotional Territories”, a seriously good exhibition curated by Marie Jose Gallery and featuring a double bill of Lebanese artists with paintings by Sara Chaar and sculpture by Ramzi Mallat - I was fortunate to meet Sara and see her new body of work. (More on Ramzi Mallat in another post - a fascinating story there too).

Sara Chaar, The Colour of Longing, cold wax and oil on canvas, 120 x 100cm

It is interesting that I dictated in my notes the paragraph about emotional layers before speaking to Sara. This is how she describes her work - which also speaks for itself:

The works are not landscapes and do not intend to be, they are an accumulation of emotional layers meant to evoke the same feelings we feel when we look at a landscape… portals to places and feelings that define our sense of home.

Sara Chaar, Phantom Landscape, cold wax and oil on canvas, 120 x 100cm

Chaar thinks of landscapes as a transformed reflection of the self, emerging from a sense of separation. I’d like to take that sentence forward, to define its meaning within my own perceptions but I won’t. There is a beauty in these words and I will allow them to take their own shape in your minds.

Sara Chaar, Memory Spectrum, cold wax and oil on canvas, 150 x 130cm

Sara works with cold wax and oil paints, exploring “themes of identity, memory, and the human experience within tense socio-political environments”.

The cold wax technique helps her to construct and deconstruct her moodscapes, much like the complex flow of emotions we all experience on a daily basis.

Sara Chaar, Everyone Alive Wants Answers, cold wax and oil on canvas, 150 × 130cm

Her current work has gotten noticeably lighter since her first exhibition with Marie Jose Gallery. After undergoing a period of darkness brought on by the onslaught of wars and suffering, she deliberately chose to concentrate on sharing positive emotions as a way to help all of us through trying times.

Sara Chaar, Clouds and Nostalgia, cold wax and oil on canvas, 120 x 100cm

Born in Miami in 1986 and based in Beirut, Sara Chaar decided on a career in the visual arts shortly after graduating with a BA degree in Audio-visual in 2008.

Widely exhibited, Chaar’s works are also in the collection of Museum of the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris. You can see more of her work on her IG @sara.chaar.studio. Her current joint exhibition with Lebanese sculptor Ramzi Mallat is on through 11 January 2025 at Marie Jose Gallery in London. Well worth a visit.