Born in 1975 in the South of Lebanon, Ayman Baalbaki’s practice reflects the realities of the Lebanese Civil war which he has lived through. Having been forced to leave his village and relocate to Beirut to the neighborhood of Wadi Abu Jamil, which has been replaced with the glitzy Downtown area, his background has greatly influenced his work.

His paintings reflect the aspects of his life as a refugee in Beirut and the reconstruction efforts in the post-war era (or the de-construction for that matter). After completing a degree at the Lebanese University’s Institute of Fine Arts, Baalbaki left for Paris where he continued his studies at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs and obtained his PHD.

He has exhibited widely in the Middle East and Europe; recent solo shows include “Switzerland It Ain’t" ("Ceci N’est Pas La Suisse") at Rose Issa Projects, London (2009); “Apocalyptic Transfiguration”, at the Agial Art Gallery, Beirut (2008); “Ici est Ailleurs”, Agial Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon (2006); “Thirty: Ayman Baalbaki and Sheelagh Colcough”, Studio 4-11, Belfast (2005); “CM3”, Cité Internationale Universitaire, Paris (2003); and “Contemporary Art Encounter: Imagining the Book”, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt (2002).