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One of the most eclectic Lebanese artists in style and artistic interest, Aref El-Rayess is undoubtedly one of the leading figures in Lebanese art history. Born in Aley in 1928, his eclectic upbringing between Lebanon and Dakar exposed him to a plethora of inspirations that served as the basis of his prolific body of works. Although El-Rayess travelled extensively throughout his lifetime, appropriating a local visual vocabulary, it is clear that his works always hint at his native homeland; although abstract in its depiction, each of the geometric forms and lines are reminiscent of the amalgamation and melting pot that was Lebanon in the 1960s, the scratchings referencing Phoenician iconography - everything becoming intertwined in a deliriousness that is visually rich and delightful.