BIO
I paint between impulse and intent—what cannot be tamed. (Fadi Elchamaa – Euphoria 2025)
Fadi Elchamaa (b. 1960, Beirut) is a Lebanese painter whose work demonstrates a sustained and evolving engagement with abstract painting. Over four decades, he has developed a distinct visual language rooted in gesture and chromatic intensity. His practice has transitioned from figurative explorations to atmospheric abstractions, where color is not merely a medium but an architectural force that dictates form and space.
Raised in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War, Elchamaa’s early artistic inquiries centered on identity and emotional likeness. From 1998 to 2013, he worked as a Creative Director at J. Walter Thompson (JWT), overseeing visual and conceptual campaigns across key Middle Eastern cultures, including Damascus, Manama, Cairo, Riyadh, and Casablanca. Foreseeing AI’s growing role in creativity, he left advertising in 2013 to devote himself entirely to the irreducibly human—raw, instinctual, and unfiltered creation. His 2019 retrospective, And Tomorrow Who Am I? (ARTLAB Beirut), marked a turning point—shifting from identity exploration to its dissolution into pure presence.
The Lebanese Revolution of 2019 reinforced this vision, leading him to pioneer a technique of layered translucence where pigment and material breathe within space rather than define it. His 2022 solo exhibition, The Disappearing Act, expanded painting’s last frontier—a space where instinct and structure clash, dissolve, and continuously reconfigure. The exhibition earned critical acclaim, solidifying his reputation as a painter who does not depict reality but allows it to unfold.
Beyond the canvas, Elchamaa co-founded Sleeping With The Enemy Productions (SWTEP) in 2019, an initiative expanding painting into public space, performance, and interdisciplinary experimentation. Through SWTEP, he has initiated projects that challenge the boundaries between artist, audience, and perception, further reinforcing his role as a painter whose work does not conform but persists.
Elchamaa’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at VOLTA New York (2023), Dubai, Paris, Washington DC, and Abidjan (2023). His paintings are in prominent private and institutional collections, including the Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, R&R Haddad Collection, H&N Abou Chaar Collection, and Serhal Collection. Though rooted in abstraction, they carry an undeniable sense of luminosity, offering an uplifting and immersive experience that lingers.
Born in Beirut 1960
Lives and works in Baabdat – Lebanon
1960 – 1979 Learned to read and write
1974 – 1981 Photography and dark room
1981 – 1997 Painting
1997 – 2013 Creative Director J. Walter Thompson (Beirut, Damascus, Khobar, Manama, Cairo, Riyadh, Casablanca, Doha)
2013 – today Painting and art activism
“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 – NEWYORK – Walls House Of Art Gallery – Newyork
NOT TODAY – Collective show – Lynn Modallal Galery – 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