I live by the Code!

“I live by the code.” Says Gus Bawab.

Born in 1978 Kuwait, and raised in the war-torn city of Beirut, Lebanon, Gus presently lives in Toronto, Canada as an artist. His work is highly original, his use of color and form striking and bold…

A friendly man,  he waved to us, as my sister and I walked past his house. He was out on his porch, painting, rather cheerfully, so we went up to him, and got our picture taken with him and the painting he was working on… that is how it all began!

I managed to ask him a couple of disorganised questions over Facebook… which he seems to have enjoyed answering.

Gus’ family fled from the war in Lebanon and moved to Canada. They returned to Lebanon though, in 1991. And Gus set out to make a name for himself as an artist!

Of his childhood experiences, Gus says “I think my first traumatic experience was when a bomb struck right across the street and I heard it from the window. My mother had to run in and hit me on my back so I could breathe again. I could not breathe. So she kind of saved me. I was way out of control after she hit me on my back. I screamed with all I had!”

What was it like, living in such close proximity to violence?  ”You get senseless and stop feeling for a while. I was… maybe four, at that time.”

But, then why would he return to Lebanon?  ”We loved Lebanon… and, well, the war was over! I was around 13, when we went back. It was… different. My neighbourhood was the same… but people had changed. The area where I lived used to have a lot of embassies, so it hadn’t been bombed very badly… but there were a lot of bullet holes in my building. A lot of people I used to play with, just never came back…

War… running away and finding home… in the middle of all this, where did the search for an artist begin?  ”Having been left behind at the early age of nine by all my friends who fled the civil war with their families, I found myself pencil-drawing as a way of expressing myself. Sometimes I even resorted to ball-point pens!

Horse on the run by Gus Bawab

Eventually, at the age of fifteen, I slowly discovered my penchant for the paintbrush and diligently worked toward my first exhibition. While it was part of a street-long art show (The Hamra Festival) that displayed the work of many artists, it nonetheless inspired me to pursue my dreams of assembling an exhibition of my own. Housed in the Russian Cultural Center of Beirut, the show presented 30 pieces of my work, was broadcast live on LBC TV, and most importantly marked my graduation from high school and entry into college in 1996.

In college, I studied graphic design, but refused to remain limited to it. I personally approached painters in the Arab world and was honored to have them as my mentors. It is with their help that I honed my artistic skills and was eventually able to put together an exhibition in the UNESCO Palace in 2006. It was a display of 50 meticulously chosen pieces spanning the ten years of preparation. Thankfully, it was a success that earned the acclaim of numerous Lebanese critics.”

Scream by Gus Bawab

How come you came all the way back to Canada?  ”I was supposed to have an exhibition in Lebanon. Bahia al harriri (Minister of Higher Education and Culture) was supposed open the event. Due to the political turmoil that came after the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafic Il Harriri, she was not able to make it for security reasons, obviously. For that, the media could not make it as well and so this affected my finances rather badly. I moved to Canada and decided to take a new approach. I sell my paintings on the internet now… I don’t need to bank my publicity on who attends my exhibitions anymore.

Living a life of split homes and with such a childhood, he might not need someone else to inspire his art, but when asked what inspires him, he replies simply : “Salvador Dali. Wajih Nahle.”

“Well, to be brutally honest and scientific, I, like many other artists, am labeled with what is diagnosed as learning disability. One of the symptoms is bipoalar mood swings. So when my mood goes up or down I tend to get high on my own, naturally! I get some ideas from there.”

She Rules by Gus Bawab

When asked what inspires him apart from other works of art, he replies: “My family and friend circle is also very inspiring. One of my sisters is a computer science major married to a electric and robotics engineer. My younger sister is still in Lebanon, writing her thesis in psychology. My grandfather was a poet and a writer. One of his sons is an ex-minister who worked for the late Prime Minister, Rafic El Hariri. My other uncle is a cardiologist. My mom is an Arabic literature teacher and my other aunt is a biology teacher.One of my cousins is studying genetic cloning or something like that. Some of my ideas come from my conversation with my diverse circle of family and friends.” Must surely be so!

“When I sit with them, all together and listen to their conversation I get all of these ideas… and so… I want to paint again!”

“And when I have those moods and thoughts running through my mind, the energy in me becomes so overwhelming that I can no longer bear it… and I have to go and let it out on canvas!”

Thirsty Hypocrite by Gus Bawab

When asked about his journey to beome an artist, he explains, “When a person goes through a traumatic experience such as war and in the case where that person is biologically predisposed to dysfunctionality, the result, in what they call a diathesis stress syndrome. Now when that happens, the self esteem goes down… and so art becomes a substitute to uplift it or make one more confident.

Now it is up to that person to do or not to do the following in order to become ‘better’:

1) to read a lot of books

2) to break what he knows as rules and make his own ways (creatively)

3) to be able to draw what he sees

4) practice practice pratice

And then, of course, comes the marketing and promotion of yourself… and how you deal with customers…”

So, when did he sell his first painting?  ”I sold the first of my art work, when I was maybe, 19. I sold half of my show! I was ready to sell at an earlier stage, but my parents prohibited it, thinking it would spoil me! I was offered 1500 for a ‘collage’ but never sold it… I still have it!”

How does he work?  ”I have a routine but sometimes the inspiration takes over too… and it slows me down, or makes me paint at a higher level!”

With all this behind him, what is the central spiral of his art? “Painting is the realm where fantasy roams unguarded. It is my solace from the world where barriers, rules, and judgments fall and unburden my mind. Flagrant colors emerge unchecked, blur the lines between the real and the surreal, and create new concepts as every on-looker’s personal projections merge with mine.

After years of training in classical painting and graphic design, I have developed my own style of art. My paintings are unique for their serenity, striking color contrasts, and concepts. The colors are done in a celebratory manner, and give rise to three-dimensional deceptions. Most of the abstract paintings are done almost spontaneously, while others are done over a longer period of time where drying takes place between layers. All my surreal paintings are developed conceptually, and each one is handcrafted with its own unique style.”

Pharoahs by Gus Bawab

About his religious beliefs, Gus says, “God is a code. whether you believe or disbelieve, is irrelevant. God has been presented by so many religions but never explained. And so, whether you read religions or politics of economics or whatever, I believe, it will lead to the same result of what the three monotheistic religions state.So, whether a person is a believer or not is irrelevant, because human development is coded by something higher than we can understand yet. I live by the code!”

an interview by Gitanjali Joshua