Etel Adnan

Working with the potential of color

Etel Adnan, born in Beirut in 1925, was a Lebanese-American poet, essayist and visual artist.
who has inspired the contemporary generation thanks in part to her unique approach and multi-faceted use and relationship with colour.
She is considered one of the most iconic artists in the Arab intellectual diaspora as well as a pioneer of women’s rights all over the world.
Etel Adnan’s career has ranged over a wide variety of works, including drawing, film, painting and ceramics. She is also an author of poetry and prose, where she often addressed difficult political situations like the Vietnam War and Lebanese War. Throughout the years she has incorporated in her practise a Leperello or Japanese folding concertina book technique, presenting colourful or monochrome landscapes and compositions.
In her work, Etel Adnan, painted landscapes in which she embraced a new concept, refusing traditional cultural references, media and techniques, favouring a composition that is based on scenery, devoid of human figures, but is representative of the beauty of the universe and the intense bond she has with it; her paintings executed with clear, confident strokes.
Through her works and throughout her career, Etel Adnan asked herself and her viewers the question: “Do colours have the power to break the time barrier, and carry us into outer spaces, not only those made of miles and distances, but those of the accumulated experiences of life since its beginning or unbeginning?” .

Artists

Etel Adnan Ai Weiwei Leila Alaoui Juan Araujo Kader Attia Daniel Buren Cai Guo-Qiang Alejandro Campins Iván Capote Yoan Capote Loris Cecchini Elizabet Cerviño Chen Zhen Nikhil Chopra Marcelo Cidade Jonathas De Andrade Berlinde De Bruyckere Leandro Erlich Carlos Garaicoa Osvaldo González Antony Gormley Gu Dexin Shilpa Gupta Subodh Gupta Carsten Höller JR Ilya & Emilia Kabakov Zhanna Kadyrova Kan Xuan Anish Kapoor André Komatsu Jannis Kounellis Luis López-Chávez Jorge Macchi Ahmed Mater Cildo Meireles José Manuel Mesías Sabrina Mezzaqui Margherita Morgantin Moataz Nasr Hans Op de Beeck Ornaghi & Prestinari Giovanni Ozzola Susana Pilar Michelangelo Pistoletto Kiwon Park Qiu Zhijie Arcangelo Sassolino Manuela Sedmach Serse Kiki Smith Nedko Solakov Marta Spagnoli José Antonio Suárez Londoño Hiroshi Sugimoto Sun Yuan & Peng Yu Pascale Marthine Tayou Nari Ward Sophie Whettnall Sislej Xhafa José Yaque Zhuang Hui

Working with the potential of color

Artists