46 ART FOR ART’S SAKE ABRAHAM KARABAJAKIAN 47 A He began as an art enthusiast, became a collector, curated an exhibition and now co-owns a non-profit space in Beirut that showcases Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern art. Myrna Ayad meets Abraham Karabajakian and discusses the KA Collection, as well as the patron’s plan to help launch a museum in the Lebanese capital. bout 100 artworks hang in a 900-metre apartment-cum-exhibition space on the fifth floor of the Lebanese capi- tal’s Residence Marina Bay building on the Dbayeh waterfront. Without glancing at a piece’s corresponding caption, Abraham Karabajakian explains its subject, theme, material, date and name. It is an impressive feat for a 600-strong collection comprised predominantly of Modern and Contempo- rary Middle Eastern artworks divided between four areas – his Beirut home, two storage facilities and the space itself, owned by his art partner Roger Akoury. “There is a fifth component,” says Karabajakian, “Pieces on loan!” The collection, called KA after its founders’ last names, began as Karabajakian’s hobby about two decades ago until it became a dual collaboration in 2011. Based in Bucharest, Akoury, who works in pharmaceuticals, admired his friend’s passion for art and witnessed the financial challenges that Kara- bajakian was facing in acquiring Modern Arab works. This was 2010 – the year that ex-Jeddah Mayor Dr Mohamed Farsi sold his collection of Arab masterpieces at Christie’s Dubai and Paris sales for record sums and also marked the opening of Doha’s pioneering Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern 48 ART PATRON “There was no purpose to my collection. You don’t plan on becoming a collector. A real collector never does that.” Modern Art, whose holdings include the who has since taken an active interest in the world’s largest collection of Modern Arab field. Today, the duo join a list of Lebanese art works. The scales of supply and demand shift- patrons practicing ‘soft power’ to promote the ed as buyers sought to acquire such pieces country’s cultural output, such as banker Ray- in a small, radically appreciating market from mond Audi and fashion mogul Tony Salamé, collectors, many of whom did not want to part who have taken their collections outside the Opening spread: with such rare works and others who waited confines of their homes and placed them in Amine El-Bacha. Composition Abstraite. for prices to rise. “Buyers are becoming more public areas as well as their trade outlets. “The 1968. Oil on canvas. educated and mature,” notes Karabajakian. “I private sector is doing a lot for Lebanon and 70 x 95 cm. can feel that in the auctions.” we should be proud of these individuals,” says This page: Aref El-Rayess. Untitled. These events whetted the appetites of Karabajakian. “Politicians normally work to ad- 1998. Acrylic on canvas. 110 x 110 cm. Karabajakian as well as dealers, auction houses vance a country, but they don’t do that here.” and collectors alike, all who suffered from es- Facing page: Abraham Karabajakian at calating prices, rarity and authenticity. “I don’t his residence with (from left to right) Saliba Douaihy. have a bank,” laughs Karabajakian. “Roger and I COLLECTING TO CURATING Apollo. 1976. Oil on canvas. 73 x 110 cm; André Butzer. have a greater spending power as two people The roots of Karabajakian’s passion for art begin Untitled. Undated. Oil on and so he proposed that we start this togeth- in his Armenian home in Lebanon. His father canvas. 220 x 360 cm; Marwan Sahmarani. Le er.” Financial clout aside, Karabajakian also suc- loved music, enough to publish a book about soldat bleu. 2013. Oil on canvas. 220 x 175 cm. ceeded in transmitting ‘the art virus’ to Akoury, the songs of the Armenian Church and though Photography by Maria Dib. 49 ART PATRON he wasn’t a collector, art was appreciated. De- give you two and you’ll see the difference’,” money he had. “There was no purpose to my spite the wars in Lebanon, the family remained says Karabajakian. “It took me five minutes to collecting. You don’t plan on becoming a collec- in the country, and several schools later, Kara- put aside the ones I’d bought and buy books tor. A real collector never does that,” he stresses. bajakian enrolled in the law programme at on Caucasian rugs.” Today, he owns over 50 “You buy art to enjoy it and then, when you real- Beirut’s Saint Joseph University, but later opted such carpets, which range in age from 100 to ise you have more than your walls can take, they for a Bachelor’s degree in Management. During 200 years. “And they shouldn’t be on the floor,” label you a collector.” this time, he acquired “small, affordable pieces” laughs his wife, Manal. An insurance broker by profession, Kara- and went on to complete an MBA in Marketing Among some of the earliest artworks that bajakian continued to buy Middle Eastern art- at his alma mater. “I’m curious,” he says matter- he acquired are a series of lithographs by one work and, in the process, “dreamed of having of-factly. “I love beauty and art is beautiful.” One of Armenia’s most celebrated artists, Carzou a museum of Modern art in Lebanon.” In 2009, of Karabajakian’s first loves is Caucasian carpets, (Karnik Zouloumian) purchased from a Beirut friends of his bought a former factory in Dora, an interest which was triggered some two exhibition. Other early acquisitions feature those one of Beirut’s busiest suburbs, and showed decades ago, when he bought a few to deco- by Yugoslav painter Kiro Urdin, bought in Paris Karabajakian the 1200-square-metre rectan- rate his new flat. “A friend of my father’s visited while Karabajakian was en route to the South of gle with 6.5-metre-high ceilings. It needed me, saw the carpets and laughed. He said ‘I’ll France and subsequently spent all the vacation refurbishing to become functional, but Kara- This page: Above: Shart Serge. Le Buveur. 1965. Oil on canvas. 116 x 89 cm. Below: Yvette Achkar. Untitled. 1960. Oil on canvas. 100 x 90 cm. Facing page: Interior view of Abraham Karabajakian’s residence. On the wall (from left to right) Dia Al-Azzawi Voyager’s Trace 4. 2008. Acrylic on canvas. 150 x 150 cm; Shafic Abboud. Baroque. 1970. Oil on canvas. 100 x 100 cm; Paul Guiragossian. Autour de l’enfant. 1985. Oil on canvas. 81 x 116 cm. On the floor and table (from left to right) Alfred Basbous. Mother And Child. 1998. Bronze. 31 x 10 cm; Untitled. 1985. Marble. 30 x 90 cm; Leda. 1997. Marble. 55 x 30 cm; Joseph Basbous. Woman. 2000. Wood. 30 x 10 cm. Photography by Maria Dib. “I do love abstract art, because you can see anything you want to and it lets you dream. ” 51 bajakian immediately saw an opportunity “Because you can see anything you want to and and pleaded with his friends to lend him the it lets you dream.” Though his domestic gallery space in order to stage an exhibition. In col- is akin to traveling through different eras – Paul laboration with fellow art enthusiast Tamara Guiragossian, Beirut, 1940s and Saliba Douaihy, Inja Jaber, Pieces For A Museum opened in 2011 New York, 1950s, to Dia Al-Azzawi, 1970s, Lon- and showcased works by Lebanon’s Modern don and Marwan Sahmarani, Beirut, 2000s – This page: Masters Paul Guiragossian and Shafic Abboud, the works share common threads of style and Abraham Karabajakian owned by private collectors. “The show’s title colour. It’s an interesting curatorial outlook, with (from left to right) Marwan Sahmarani. The meant the message was very clear: that these especially with the inclusion of abstract works Lottery Seller. 2012–13. Oil on canvas. 170 x 130 cm; pieces belong in a museum,” says Karabajakian, by German-born André Butzer. “Beauty has no Saliba Douaihy. Untitled. Undated. Acrylic on whose partnership with Akoury had, by this nationality,” asserts Karabajakian. “I like his work, canvas. 90 x 110 cm; Paul time, begun to develop. I can’t deny that, but I do focus on the region.” Guiragossian. Printemps. 1980. Oil on canvas. 116 x He is quick to affirm that he “does not buy 75 cm; Paul Guiragossian. Spring. 1988. Oil on canvas. names”, preferring instead “to buy pieces”, a 65 x 65 cm. Photography by Maria Dib. ABSTRACT POSSIBILITIES practice that has seen him, for example take a Facing page: The artworks in Karabajakian’s home reveal a decade to find and acquire a work by Amine El- Etel Adnan. Landscape. deep-seated affinity for Abstract Expressionism Bacha in Paris. Another situation occurred with 1990. Oil on canvas. 70 x 100 cm. and geometry. “I do love abstract art,” he admits. Baroque by Shafic Abboud when he persuaded the artist’s daughter to sell him the 1970 oil on world’s ‘usual suspects’ but they are, by and “When canvas piece. In 2009, he came across a man who owned a work by Guiragossian. Karabaja- large, among the most unique. “He always goes for the unusual,” says Manal. “By the time he you are kian bought the 1965 piece, which had been given to the man by the Master’s son, Emma- shows me an artwork, he’d already have gone through endless research and an elimination surrounded nuel. “Lucky for me, I found him,” smiles Kara- bajakian. And then there is the set of Guiragos- process.” Karabajakian regularly rotates art- works in his home and at the KA space, often by beauty, you sian paintings that he acquired from the artist’s wife’s doctor, “probably gifted for the birth of spending about a week working at the latter. The habit is time-consuming and rigorous, so become more each child and when Guiragossian used a knife and hard brushes to paint.” He then points to an much so, that when the couple’s eldest son was once asked what his father does for a living, he optimistic, artwork by Carzou that was in the collection of a museum in Japan that closed in 2002. “I track replied, “He hangs artworks.” When asked if he could personify the collection, Karabajakian at- creative and them down,” he says, citing the importance of bringing back such masterpieces to Lebanon. tributes qualities such as “freedom, joy, colour and simplicity” to it. innovative. ” Like other patrons of his collecting cali- bre, Karabajakian co-owns works by the Arab As far as KA is concerned, it views like a visual anthology of, principally, Lebanese art 53 ART PATRON from the 1950s until the present day with, for ART FOR ALL example, a 70 x 100 cm oil on canvas piece Mistakes, of course, have been made along dated 1990 by Etel Adnan (and among the the way and Karabajakian figures that there largest she created) as well as a series of piec- are about 15 pieces in KA that can be trimmed This page: View of the KA exhibition es by Aref El-Rayyes from 1962–99, and a 1951 to allow for the purchase of more important space (from left to right) Huguette Caland. The oil on canvas by Douaihy that marked one works. He sticks to acquiring Contemporary art Purple One. 2012. Acrylic of the artist’s first forays into abstraction. Of from galleries and maintains that buying Mod- on canvas. 165 x 416 cm; Assadour Bezdikian. course, there is a Contemporary contingent, ern pieces from auctions is a relatively safe op- Untitled. 2008. Oil on canvas. 81 x 100 cm; which includes works by Ayman Baalbaki, Ab- tion as provenance and authenticity are gener- Huguette Caland. Summer In Venice, LA. 2011. Acrylic dulrahman Katanani, Shawki Youssef and Ous- ally secured. “You can’t find beautiful Modern on canvas. 165 x 410 cm. sama Baalbaki, among a number of others. works anymore and price is an important fac- Photography by Maria Dib. Interestingly, Karabajakian has juxtaposed The tor to consider,” he says. Facing page: Interior view of the Crying Man, the first oil piece he acquired by The view from the fifth floor of the Resi- KA exhibition space. Photography by Maria Dib. Sahmarani, against The Beginning Of The World dence Marina Bay waterfront is spectacular. Photography by Agop by Ziad Abillama, a sculptural abstract rendi- Viewable by appointment only, it is a tempo- Kanledjian and all images tion inspired by Gustave Courbet’s The Origin rary space until KA secures a permanent home courtesy KA Collection, unless otherwise specified. Of The World. in Lebanon. “This collection is for the country,” 54 ART PATRON “If you don’t show art, you bury it. If we don’t do this now, when would be a right time? Lebanon is always politically volatile.” says Karabajakian. “When you are surround- cause in Lebanon, you need a unifying place.” ed by beauty, you become more optimistic, The individuals supporting this venture are creative and innovative.” Both he and Akoury currently at preliminary stages of drafting the have already begun talks (concerning lend- gallery’s mission and vision and intend on ing works from KA) with individuals from the launching in about four years, provided Leba- Association for the Promotion and Exhibition non is not crippled by internal and regional for the Arts (APEAL), the commissioning body politics. This begs the question: why take a risk behind the country’s participation at the 55th in such a volatile environment? “For a start, if Venice Biennale and which has held exhibi- you don’t show art, you bury it,” says Karabaja- tions of Lebanese art in the USA and UK. APEAL kian. “Secondly, if we don’t do this now, when has already identified and secured a plot for would be a right time? Lebanon is always a museum, facing the National Museum of politically volatile.” Beirut, “a strategic location that is neither East nor West Beirut,” says Karabajakian, “be- For more information visit www.ka-collection.com 55
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