Coins and Colors

Coins and Color’s the new path of the Italian-Lebanese artist Imad Rayes

After completing his studies in “Graphic Design” at the American University of Beirut in 1982/1984 and thanks to a scholarship from the Italian Government, Imad El Rayes, born in 1961 in Aley in Lebanon, graduated from the Academy of Fine Art in Carrara in 1990. Imad is an artist and a man of international culture, he is an artist and a man of peace and encounter between peoples and cultures. Since 1985 he lives and works in Massa Carrara.

He participated in numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad: among the most important we remember the one at the Institute of Italian Culture in Beirut in 1984, then “Art dialogue between peoples” at the Cloister of Santa Croce in Florence in 1986 and “Sculptors across the border” in Milan. Furthermore, he has participated in several international symposia: in France in Toulon in 1992. At the “Mu Ju Resort” in South Korea in 1993. In Aley in Lebanon in 2001. In the Apuan Versilia area he has been present in several group exhibitions, including: “Inchiostra” at the Museum of Sketches in Pietrasanta and “Marmi al Forte” in Forte dei Marmi. Imad El Rayes also had solo exhibitions at the “Collage and installations Arci club in Carrara” in 1994. A “Giardini di Pace” Painting APT 2005 of Marina di Massa.

“Contrasti”, one of the most important solo exhibitions of the Lebanese artist, was held in 2009 at the Grand Ducal Stables of Palazzo Mediceo in Seravezza: the exhibition presented a significant summary of all his works including paintings and collages. Imad El Rayes participated for several years in “Arte Dove” in Fosdinovo with original installations and in 2021 with paintings.

In 2019 he held a personal exhibition “Painting” in the Cathedral of Massa and the same year he participated with a work of Collage explaining his idea on Peace at the “World Festival Poetry Canova” in Aulla. The last exhibition was in 2020 at the Mother Teresa church of Calcutta in Livorno. “Coins and Color’s” is the latest and current artistic research and experimentation of Imad El Rayes. The works of this series, reproduced here, are 52 x 56 cm. on fine board made precisely with mixed media. Each work has its own story but all belong to the “Coins and color’s” series.

“There are multiple and contrasting messages, between the imaginary and reality. – so the artist tries to tell his works – The journey when money is under your feet and life at stake… I see this as the endless beginning of Lebanese hopes.” Beppe Fulceri, theologian and art critic, said of these works: “These works are particular, they give the possibility of multiple observations and feelings, even in opposition to each other: this is Art, with the complexities that un Art arouses with its simplicity.”