JEDDAH — Ali Cha'aban, 23, is a young Lebanese artist and art director with big artsy dreams. With a background in communication and multimedia, Cha'aban is one of the youngest art directors in the Arab world. He told Saudi Gazette: “I usually prefer visual art and graffiti as mediums. Many described my work as filled with pop cultural artifacts, globalized images as well as a couple of childhood memory priming snapshots. ‘Looking at his pieces is like delving into a consumerist Disney land, or a stroll down memory lane,' a personal favorite quote that was used to describe me. “My work is usually quirky, emerging from satirical pop culture artworks, I'm usually known for witty and sometimes deranged idioms and notions that I try to depict in my artwork intricately. Some people may refer to my work as insulting and others find it hilarious and endearing.” And that's the best thing about Cha'aban; he stirs emotions. Albeit controversial or otherwise endearing, he strikes a chord with the onlooker, making you nothing less than a believer.
His work has won accolades throughout the region even though he has only exhibited in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Cha'aban's art varies from digital art, installations to stencils/graffiti. “The street art show ‘Some Call It Noise' that took place in a construction site back in 2010, was my favorite,” he told Saudi Gazette. “But recently the one in Khobar this year topped my favorites list. I've received some attention from the French to move my 2010 exhibition to Paris, to be a part of a PR agency and gained attention of international advertisement agencies for a professional career.” He said one of his biggest accomplishments was also being coined as one of the youngest art directors in the Arab world, while working with BBDO back in Kuwait. When asked how he got into the medium of art, he said: “Whenever I get asked this question, I'm never able to find the appropriate answer to level with its weight. There was never an exact timing where I found myself artistic or creative, you just gradually find yourself seeing observing things differently from others. “However if I have to pinpoint an exact timing, it would probably say first year of college when I took the history of art course, I learned the basics and eventually attached. Art is meant for everyone, whether aesthetically pleasing or plain disgusting. Art is a means of communication that is way more beautiful than any sort of mediums. I experiment a lot, I don't like to limit myself to one sort of medium, but I mostly like to work with digital art, installations and stencils/graffiti.” Progressing in the artistic fields of Saudi Arabia, according to Cha'aban can have its ups and downs. “First and foremost, KSA has a never-ending population of creative minds, some of the society's suppression worked in the artists' favor; it created this wave of emerging creativity that is breathtaking and impacting, so competing with that level of creativity can be very difficult, especially trying to distinguish yourself from others. “You've got organizations such as Edge Of Arabia with a brilliant roster of artists that I admire, which have raised the ideals of what is considered creative. But what's very good about that is this level of creativity urges you to push yourself more into achieving a higher standard of work and raising the bar. “That being said, the support has been surprising and awe-inspiring. I've been getting great support in KSA, especially since my work isn't very friendly, many find themselves the one's who should be offended but the one's that truly understand the meaning of the artwork or what message I'm trying to convey find themselves attached to the piece. Art is meant to disturb, so if you initiate a reaction from the viewer whether good or bad, your message was successful.” As an art director, Cha'aban is required to be updated with news and cultural issues that are significant to his line of work. He feels social media is the means and essence of artwork these days, especially for an artist like him. “I like to create work that is upbeat and associated with modern issues for it to be more relevant and impacting. The channel that I communicate with, the channel that I brainstorm with, the channel that creates that sender and receiver relationship; the encoder and decoder. It helped with reaching a wider base of audience, people are interested in what I'm doing next, and I get positive feedback. I get criticism both constructive and negative,” he said. Cha'aban is working on two new projects. “مجتمعنا (Remix)” under the monicker of mimicKINGS, a remixed take on the heroes, protagonists and antagonists of modern society in a satirical way to highlight vaguely categorized classes of people. The other project is called “فيلم” that is an interesting project related to the Arabic classics. He plans to exhibit his work in different parts of Saudi Arabia, like Jeddah and Riyadh. “Art inspires art. Artists around me continuously inspire me. I surround myself with a creative community to keep this energy at peak level. Always discussing and communicating new ideas, bad ideas, opinions and what not; something always generates in the end.” Cha'aban described his future as jumbled, sporadic and spontaneous. “At a moment I'd probably want something and the next it's disposed. I'm still young, I still get the chance to experiment with other fields, and I was recently an advisor in the fashion markets of Italy and Germany, trend hunting and fashion marketing so to speak. “Something that is out of my field temporarily, but I want to see where this takes me. However, at the end of the day, I always see myself having my own creative agency, a creative roster and awesomely creative projects.”
