Omar Mismar, who lives and works in Beirut, was trained first as a graphic designer in Beirut, and then as an artist in the United States. With Ahmad and Akram Protecting Hercules (2019–2020) and Parting Scene (with Ahmad, Firas, Mostafa, Yehya, Mosaab) (2023), Mismar subverts the commission to honour the heroic actions of the forgotten and benevolent guardians of an archaeological museum in Syria. With Fantastical Scene [sic] (2019– 2020), he switches the head of the lion as predator with the head of the bull as prey, a word play in Arabic, as the former translates to al-assad and the latter to al-thawr, which sounds like thawra, or revolution. With Spring Cleaning (2022), Mismar subverts representations of prized artefacts by consecrating the inexpensive polyester fibre blanket, emblematic of the living conditions of refugees. And with Two Unidentified Lovers in a Mirror (2023), he audaciously reclaims an explicit image of queer life, deemed unnatural in Lebanon, but whose explicitness is disrupted as the tesserae of the two men’s faces are rearranged.
This is the first time the work of Omar Mismar is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Rasha Salti
