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Best Painting
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Tamara Haddad
(Co-Winner)
Tamara Haddad
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![](http://prize.gallery.com.lb/2022//Winners/images/D-Best-Painting-Tamara-Haddad.jpg) |
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Part of De Terre et de Matière, Faille II. Earth #3, Oil, Acrylic, Clay, Sand, Tree Bark, Glue on Wood Panel, 80x130 |
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The artwork appears to be expanding and contracting as if it is breathing slowly, it wavers on the edge of two different forms, and even mediums, oscillating between a painting and a sculpture. Integrating components that stem from the soil itself, it is rich in color, texture and composition. Tamara Haddad has reached into the core of the earth and extracted its essence, carefully replicated to expose its beating heart.
On the Ground Traditional mediums were used such as oil and acrylic paint, but the most significant ingredients are the fragments of soil, sand and wood. Together mixed with artificial colors, the natural elements are enhanced and the rough surface is deepened. “I come back to the origin of the Earth, I question its material, the way it’s formed, its reliefs and its colors. I search for the beauty of rocky landscapes, the infinity of hues and textures,” she states. What appears like landscape scenery is also simultaneously a tree’s trunk and a cross section cut of the Earth’s many strata. Showcasing the complexity of the earth’s formation, the work alludes to the layers that have taken millennia to form and have Earth’s history written into them, marking the passage of time.
Environmentally (Un)friendly Earth, sand, water, and wind interact with other natural forces to react, create and destroy. These ordinary elements are faced with another interaction: the human race. Haddad questions humanity’s role and effect via her work. Even when not acknowledged or perceived, these constituents make mankind seem small in comparison. Their presence is often marked by their absence and now, their progressive disappearance caused by human influence. By incorporating natural materials such as sand, bark, straw, pebble and branches along with oil painting into her process, she places these questions at the forefront of the canvas in full confrontation.
Mother Earth Haddad paints a sincere portrait of the earth in both its splendor and wounds, like a mother lovingly painting her child’s face with all the features and blemishes, sparing no details. This is how Haddad plays with the duality of the earth, depicting it as strong and delicate at the same time. The damage inflicted by human influence is alarming, but this apocalyptic reality conversely highlights Mother Nature’s tenacity and strength. Haddad succeeds to frame the delicate line where sky and earth meet as she sees them. She carries over pictorial inspirations from her trips to the Far East, as well as the mountains of Lebanon.
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