Mohammad Rawas

Mohammad Rawas (b. 1951) is a prize-winning Lebanese painter and printmaker who was born in Beirut. He studied first at the Institute of Fine Arts at the Lebanese University in Beirut, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor’s degree in Painting. 

With the onset of the Civil War in Lebanon, Rawas left for Syria and then Morocco, where he taught art at the Ecole Normale des Institutrices, Rabat.

In 1979 Rawas returned to Beirut, before leaving once again for the UK, having gained a scholarship to study at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. He graduated with an MA in Printmaking in 1981 and returned to Lebanon. 

Rawas’s work is rooted in cultural and political complexities, with themes spanning conflict, violence, belonging, displacement and duplicity. 

Rawas’s multi-media constructions on canvas explore, decontextualize and reinterpret ideas and concepts, in unsettling works marked by a layered assemblage of objects ranging from collage, graphics and printed images to words. Among the diverse, disconnected references utilised are comic strips, fashion magazines, photos, old master paintings and quotes from poetry. Other media used to create his pieces include balsa wood, aluminium and string, also amassed over canvas. 

Mohammad Rawas’s work has been exhibited extensively since 1975 in solo shows and collectives locally and internationally, as well as at biennales, including the first Beijing International Art Biennale, China in 2003 and the 24th Alexandria Biennale of the Mediterranean Countries, at which he won the prize. Recent solo exhibitions include events at: Saleh Barakat Gallery, Beirut (2019); Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, (2016); Art Sawa, Dubai (2010); Aida Cherfan Fine Art, Beirut (2007); and Janine Rubeiz Gallery, Beirut (2004, 2000 and 1997).
The many international group shows his work has featured in include: ‘Art from Lebanon’, Beirut Exhibition Centre, Beirut (2012); ‘Calling the Shots, Vol 3. The Digital Age’, Q Contemporary, Beirut (2011); ‘Rebirth’, Lebanon 21st Century Contemporary Art, Beirut Exhibition Art Centre, Beirut (2011); ‘Convergence’, New Art from Lebanon, American University Museum, Katzen Arts Centre, Washington DC (2010); ‘The Road to Peace, Painting in Times of War, 1975-1991’ Beirut Art Centre, Beirut (2009); ‘Virtuellement Réel: Reflection in Contemporary Painting and Photography’, Alice Mogabgab Gallery, Beirut (2009); ‘The Responsive Hand, Drawings 1’, Maqam Gallery, Beirut (2009); Exhibition of Lebanese Art, Algeria the Cultural City of the Arab World, Algeria (2007); ‘Word into Art’, Artists of the Modern Middle East, The British Museum, London (2006); Tokyo Mini Print Biennale, Japan (2002); Southern Graphic Council Conference, New Orleans, US (2002); 93e Salon de la Société Internationale des Beaux-Arts (SIBA), La Mairie de Paris, France (2000); and ‘Art Beyond Borders’, UNESCO and International Museum of Twentieth Century Art, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris (1998), Mitra Municipal Gallery, Lisbon (1998) and Las Vegas Art Museum, US (2000).

In addition, Rawas’s work can be found in numerous prestigious public and private collections, among which are: Sursock Museum, Beirut; the National Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad; Centre d’Art Vivant de la Ville de Tunis, Tunisia; the British Museum, London; Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway; Sharjah Museum of Contemporary Arab Art, UAE; the American University of Beirut Art Centre Collection, Lebanon; and Darat al-Funun, Amman, Jordan.

Rawas is the recipient of several prizes. He has taught at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, where he founded the etching, engraving and silkscreen studios within the institution’s Department of Architecture and Design, and at Lebanon University’s Institute of Fine Arts. In addition, he was a longstanding secretary-general at the Lebanese Association of Painters and Sculptors and is a founding member of the Syndicate of Lebanese Artists.