I paint between impulse and intent—what cannot be tamed.
(Elchamaa, Lebanese Abstract Painter)
BIO
FADI ELCHAMAA
Born 1960, Beirut | Lives and works in Baabdat, Lebanon
Fadi Elchamaa is a Lebanese abstract painter whose practice spans over four decades, emerging from the political and psychic upheavals of 1980s Beirut. A self-taught artist, his early inquiries developed alongside a career in visual communication: from 1998 to 2013, Elchamaa served as Creative Director at J. Walter Thompson, leading conceptual campaigns across eight Arab capitals. This period forged his sensitivity to image, idea, and velocity—qualities that later shaped his painterly vocabulary.
Since 2013, Elchamaa has worked exclusively as a painter. His canvases resist categorical reading, collapsing figuration and abstraction into unstable, hybrid terrains. Portrait and landscape dissolve into one another; stain, erasure, and gesture function as both structure and disruption. At the core of his method is contradiction, not as a subject, but as a formal Engine. The work registers thought as visual residue, translating mental states into fields marked by volatility, suspension, and immediacy.
In 2019, Elchamaa co-founded Sleeping With The Enemy Productions, an initiative exploring performative and site-responsive actions. Recent exhibitions include And Tomorrow Who Am I? (ARTLAB, Beirut, 2019), FUQA’A (Bubble) (Janine Rubeiz Gallery, 2022), The Disappearing Act (Lynn Modallal Gallery, 2023), and VOLTA New York (2023). His work is held in the Ramzi & Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, the R&R Haddad Collection, and private collections in New York, Paris, Dubai, Shanghai, and Geneva.
Press
“The only space left is inward.”
2025
AFTERTASTE – duo show – FEB – Portico Gallery, MD-USA
2024
SANA HELWA – collective – May – Lynn Modallal Gallery Beirut
BREATHSCAPE – نفس collective – April – Lynn Modallal Gallery Beirut
2023
THE DISAPPEARING ACT – Solo Show – Lynn Modallal Gallery Beirut
VOLTA ART FAIR – NEW YORK – Walls House Of Art Gallery – NEW YORK
NOT TODAY – Collective show – Lynn Modallal Gallery – Beirut
LA TÊTE DANS LES NUAGES – Duoshow – Walls House Of Art – Abidjan
2022
HEY YOU يا أيها artist-curated collective show by Fadi Elchamaa – Dec 10, 2022
FUQA’A (bubble) – Solo exhibition – Galerie Janine Rubeiz Beirut – Nov 2022
PARIS LEBANON 1st Edition – Collective – 389LABOUTIQUE – curated by popup projects
ELECTICISM – Collective – DuneArtStation Dubai
DUBAI ART WEEK -Collective Artb Fltrd Gallery – Dubai
True Colors – Fltrd Gallery – Dubai – UAE – Curated by Joe Hayek
2021
MADMAN – Galerie BEIBAI – Shanghai – China – Curated by Angela Hsu
2020
THE COLLECTIVE – Galerie BeiBei – Shanghai – China
TABA3OD – 3 weeks of collaborative work with Semaan Khawam.
MAMNOU3 EL TEHZIB – 3 weeks live painting performance SWTE Beirut 15 Feb 2020
2019
AND TOMORROW WHO AM I? – Solo show, Public curated retrospective, 35 years of painting- Artlab gallery, Beirut, Lebanon 17 Oct 2019 – (watch)
A PEACE OF LIBERTY – Gebran Tueni Foundation, Maison Libanaise – Group show, Beirut, Lebanon, October 9
HOC EVA – Group show curated by Selena Cerami – London, UK June 2019
RAW – 3 weeks live painting performance – KAF Contemporary Art Gallery Beirut, Lebanon ,June 2019
SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY – 3 weeks live painting performance – KAF Contemporary Art Gallery Beirut – Lebanon March 2019
THE COLLECTIVE – KAF Contemporary Art Gallery Beirut – Lebanon
2018
FROM THE ARTIST’S STUDIO – Collective – KAF Contemporary Art Gallery Beirut
2016
DEVIATIONS – Solo show – Galleria Soul Egypt
ELCHAMAA VS KHAWAM – Rochane Gallery Beirut Lebanon
UTOPIAN IDENTITY – Gallerie 59 – Rivoli – Paris- France
AUCTION exhibit for AEC Beirut Lebanon – Sculpture
2015
STRANGE FRUITS – Wood Of Joy – Baabdat Lebanon
2012
MAPPING SOUL – Gallerie 59 – Rivoli – Paris- France
2011
TRANSFORMATIONS – Installation – Joanna Seikali Gallery – Lebanon Solo
1997
DRAWINGS AND PAINTINGS – Rochan Gallery – Beirut, Lebanon
1996
SALON D’AUTOMNE – Sursock Museum Beirut, Lebanon
1995
FLOWERS ON THE FLOOR – Installation – Forum Art Show – Beirut, Lebanon
SALON D’AUTOMNE – Sursock Museum – Beirut – Lebanon
YARZEH – Yarzeh Art Gallery – Mount Lebanon – Lebanon