Bruno Sfeir /    

Within the framework of the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures proclaimed by UNESCO for 2010, delegations from Lebanon and Uruguay at UNESCO have organized an exceptional exhibition, topic “Subjectivity and Certainty” by the international Lebanese-Uruguayan artist Bruno Sfeir.
In the presence of many official personalities like the UNESCO General Conference’s President Mr. Davidson Hepburn, the Lebanese Ambassador for UNESCO Mrs Sylvie Fadlallah, the Uruguayan delegate for business Mr. Santiago Wins, Bruno Sfeir exhibited 12 nameless canvas for the viewers to do a personal and free artistic journey.
Bruno Sfeir has an incredible capacity to reconcile reason, emotion and intuition. Even being very rigorous he preserves and pursuits the source and the purpose of his inner pursuit.
Concerning the external, his painting is abstract and almost geometrical but it introduces the viewer into his inner universe.
His work of art is a true invitation to travel, an inexorable entrance through a prism, a labyrinth of symbols and clues that brings things together in perfect harmony. The artist guides us through a path where we cannot get lost and at the same time he leads us into the
depth of his different level perspectives. He leaves at the viewer’s disposal the openings and closures proposed through the symbols of love, death, resurrection, take root and spirituality.
His metamorphosis and metaphors are neither distressing nor arbitrary as they show the complexity of life and they do not imply a rupture or a breakdown but a serene disposition.
It is almost natural to go from one space to another without getting lost.
In his painting we can find a playful aspect that gives liveliness and a constructed aspect that provides reassurance. At the same time as it gives a good account of the geometrical intersection of rationality (space / time) it is combined with reliefs which illuminate and guide.
Finally, the adjustments of shapes and colours work by themselves as his universe has essential values of elevation, freedom and transcendence.
Bruno’s painting reminds us in some aspects about those of the great master Rene Magritte but it follows totally different purposes. We can often find in both paintings the same symbols: the bird, the key, the cup… Whereas these objects appear in Magritte’s painting (in his own words) in a willful and risky way in Sfeir’s painting they acquire (on purpose) other gravity or seriousness. His painting is surrealist and spiritual at the same time. This is the reason of his singularity and originality.
Bruno Sfeir joins modernity with the imperative of the sense; it is a powerful example of dialogue between cultures with an abstract occidental technique and an inner baroque Latin American pursuit or oriental mysticism. In his own words, his painting is the one of the “investigator”, “friend”, “pilgrim”, that of the “presence”, “wisdom”, “peace” and “light”.
Sfeir’s painting is very well achieved and it conveys inner worlds that come up as a large number of clues, alternatives, choices. His painting is not immediate, demanding or dogmatic because while it is
disciplined it suggests several levels of significance, several understanding of the work that the viewer has to explore herself / himself. His great originality consists in bringing together or joining discovery and familiarity.
Bruno Sfeir is proud of his Lebanese roots as well as his Uruguayan belonging and his international opening. His work illustrates in a brilliant way the approach of cultures. His exhibition at UNESCO in Paris has been a real triumph which deserves to be shared among everyone who associates the cedars’ homeland with creativity, innovation, intellectual and conceptual rigor and spirituality.

Bahat Rizk.