Sara Chaar’s abstract compositions are highly textured and emotionally charged battlefields of colour, marks, and scratches. There is a striking contrast between the softness of the colours she employs and the brutality of the scrapes and incisions that traverse her canvases. Chaar’s works can be compared to the lifecycle of palimpsests—ancient manuscripts made from animal skin upon which texts were scraped or washed away to make room for new inscriptions. Similarly, she builds translucent layers of cold wax and oil paint, which are then energetically scratched, carved, and excavated using screwdrivers, cutters, and palette knives.
Each new layer contributes to the evolving narrative of the canvas, while every mark simultaneously conceals and reveals fragments of its history. The resulting surfaces invite viewers into a stimulating visual world where traces of the artist’s interventions develop a language of their own. Chaar encourages us to look beyond the surface and undertake our own reading of these works, uncovering meanings embedded within their layered structures.
Her creative process is one of continuous construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction, echoing the cycles of growth, destruction, and renewal that shape the cities we inhabit. Much like her hometown of Beirut, Chaar’s paintings undergo multiple transformations, each one enriching them with greater complexity and depth.
Yet the works are not landscapes and do not intend to be. Rather, they are accumulations of emotional layers, created to evoke the same sensations we experience when looking at a landscape—portals to places, memories, and feelings that define our sense of home. For Chaar, landscapes become transformed reflections of the self, emerging from a sense of separation and longing. These paintings occupy a space between the internal and external world, where emotion, memory, and place converge.
The beauty of Chaar’s work lies in its openness. Rather than prescribing a singular meaning, her layered surfaces allow viewers to project their own experiences and associations, giving shape to personal interpretations. Through colour, texture, and gesture, she creates works that are both deeply personal and universally resonant, inviting us to explore the emotional landscapes that define our own sense of belonging.
Credits: Adapted from text by Louis Denizet and from “Emotional Layers” by Katrine Levin (2024).
