Samir El Sayegh

Lebanese artist, critic and poet Samir Sayegh is a pioneer of modernism in the Arab world. As a critic he wrote about the contemporary art of the Arab world in the Arabic press from 1970 to 1985. Since then, he has devoted himself totally to Arabic calligraphy and its stylization, stressing on the aesthetic devoid of the meaning. The artist focuses on the aesthetic properties of the written word in an effort to create a universal visual language. Sayegh has published numerous articles and essays on art and aesthetics. From 1995-2007, he was a lecturer in the Architecture and Graphic Design department at the American University of Beirut. As a writer and researcher, he is the author of several books, four on Sufi poetry and one on Islamic art. Samir Sayegh lives and works in Beirut, Lebanon.