Mouna Rebeiz Presents Le Tarbouche at Saatchi Gallery

Le Tarbouche, an exciting and thought-provoking exhibition presented by Mouna Rebeiz, a French Lebanese artist and painter, will take place at Saatchi Gallery from 27 February to 3March 2015. Le Tarbouche is a development of Mouna’s ongoing work with the female form, using the Tarbouche – as a traditional male symbol of virility in the Levant and across the Middle East – to express the female as a complex combination of the dominant and submissive, the sophisticated and the vulnerable.

Le Tarbouche is Mouna’s first solo exhibition in London. Brought up in Lebanon and educated in Paris, with her characteristic mix of techniques of the ‘Old Masters’ to examine contemporary issues, Mouna’s paintings represent a bridge between two worlds; East and West, male and female. She uses her works to explore the human being and its psyche, a subject that fascinated her during her studies at the Sorbonne. Having previously exhibited internationally, mainly in Paris with shows at Galerie Hubert Konrad, Galerie Pierre Alain Challier and the FondationRicard, Mouna’s upcoming exhibition at Saatchi Gallery marks her introduction to the London art world.

Mouna has partnered with a host of influential names from the worlds of art, fashion, and design to continue the dialogue of her exhibition in support of the charity ‘Innocence in Danger’. Lanvin, Twiggy, Bay Garnett, Naomie Harris, Star Diamond, Helen McCrory, Elie Saab, and Sandra Choi of Jimmy Choo (to name but a few) will be reinventing a Tarbouche in their own style to be auctioned by Sotheby’s following the exhibition. All proceeds from these pieces, as well as proceeds from the sale of Mouna’s paintings, will go towards the charity, a world movement for the protection of children against all forms of sexual abuse, a charity close to Mouna’s heart.

Open to influences from both Lebanon and France, Mouna became fascinated at an early age with the emphasis both cultures place on the dual role of the woman; the essence of femininity as an incongruous mix of soft sensuality and commanding sophistication. This childhood preoccupation comes to the fore in her latest conceptual collection, placing the masculine symbol of the Tarbouche at odds with its traditional usage, and reinventing it as a new feminine emblem.

The exhibition will be open 7 days a week, 10am to 6pm with free entry. A complete list of participants can be viewed at tarboucheproject.org/participants.html