Marwan Karout

Marwan Karout is a passionate artist working in Dubai. Originating from Lebanon, he has studied and worked in Canada as well and has been the recipient of several international prizes. Pursuing art from a young age, he studied art in Beirut with great assiduity and success before becoming an art teacher and increasingly devoting time to his creative passion. In 2015, he was nominated Artist of the Year at the annual Ras Al Khaimah Fine Arts Festival.

A listener, Marwan Karout has always been touched by the life stories summarized in few minutes discussions by the many travellers he has encountered around the Mediterranean basin. With open sincerity, each of them would share with him what made them leave their home countries in search of greater lives abroad, what their lives became, and what remained of the past, in their own minds and in reality.

What becomes of our ambitious life objectives? How do they shape our lives and what is left of them when we age? How relevant are we to passing time? These are just a few of the questions explored by Marwan Karout in his “Transients” collection.

Using a mix of oil and acrylic on canvas, Marwan Karout has represented some of the individuals have had the chance to encounter, often in contrast to a large suitcase evoking their life dreams: omnipresent and bigger than themselves.