Waking World, Doreen El Zein

In Doreen El Zein’s world-making, peaceful shapes drift toward form without ever fully settling into the recognisable. Fluid translucence runs throughout her work. It remains indifferent to shifts in colour or tone and responds instead to temperature, oscillating between warmth and cold. Fire and water shape these spaces. Heat smoulders at their core and grazes the edges of caves and watery hollows. Her gentle painterly language carries an undercurrent of intensity. Through sustained looking, depth gradually emerges, as inner and outer spaces coexist. If her strength lies in the perpetual morphing of form, it also lies in her ability to reconcile calm with intensity—the darkness held within light.

What water tempers these fires, or keeps them alive? What peace does a muted, shifting darkness unsettle?

Doreen Khanamirian El Zein (b. 1961, Beirut) earned a Fine Arts degree from Beirut University College (Lebanese American University) in 1982. She later continued her studies at the Byam Shaw School of Arts (Central Saint Martins) in London.

She began her career in special paint effects and furniture finishing. Over time, she expanded into mixed-media painting and sculpture. Her recent work focuses on paintings built through densely layered acrylic washes.

El Zein held her first solo exhibition at Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, in 2017. She has since participated in numerous group exhibitions, including the Visual Art Forum at UNESCO Palace (2016); the Lebanese American University Fine Arts Alumni Biennale (2016); Rebirth of a Nation at the Beirut Exhibition Center (2015); International Women’s Day exhibitions; Haigazian University Art Center (2013); and Hamazkayin Gallery (2012, 2016).