Return to SMATCH
Marya Kazoun




 STATEMENT

        Alien triggered a lot of awareness about the human monster. We fear it, our monster, it can be hideous but not without beauty. These creatures represented in movies are only our shadows, this part in us we have buried and hidden. What is buried? Shame? Why all that shame? We gave up a lot when we started living in human societies.

       The Ereeneh in Arabic is "personal shadow". It follows us everywhere. It is our double. It has to die with us when we die but sometimes after death it wonders around on earth in torment…

       Fear of our true selves can be auto-destructive. "Human" in Arabic is Insaan. Its literal translation is "forget".

       My name is Mary but it spells Marya! Why do I still feel guilty. Even the simple act of breathing is hard and painful. I expiate guilt every time I exhale a breath. It motivates me to want to take care of everybody. I don"t have time and I don t know what to do.

       I want to have all men cry in my lap. I want to console them, to heal them and tell them it is okay. My shoulders and back are tired from the heavy load of humanity.

       There is temporary satisfaction is my work, in its organic forms, and the world made with skin like materials stiched together.

       I sew them to perfection. I am in physical pain because of the labor of their making and I embrace it, it is the labor of giving birth.

       The boundary between art and art making and life is very thin, as is the boundary between pleasure and pain. Slipping to the other side is very easy. Human balance stands on a thread. I am more sane than the sane.

       My quest is very long. 

       The last artwork was a surgical operation performed on my brain. (Metaphorically) I cut it open. A lot of fragments splashed out. They all had hair. 

      New York always feels like the 1930"s (when the stock market crashed). Time stopped forever. 

       I dress up to fit times and situations. What is the intricate relationship between spaces, vibrations, and time? I dress up and the relationship is somehow resolved when I do that.

       My work calls for me to participate and be in it. It"s sometimes feels weak without me; I have to be there to protect those pieces I make.  They are stitched and given a physical and formal body, so they become grounded and firm. I am happy when they are strong enough to stand on their own.

       I want to be able to touch and transform the ugly, poor or modest into a Noble thing like a Princess. These pieces are babies, my babies. I nest and gestate.

   Marya Kazoun

   Curriculum Vitae

   Lebanese / Canadian,

   Lives and works in New York City

   EDUCATION
   2004: Master in Fine Arts, School Of Visual Arts, New York, USA

   2000: Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture, with honors, Lebanese American, Beirut, Lebanon

             Minor in Fine Arts, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon

   1999: Bachelor of Science in Interior Design, with honors, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon

   AWARDS
   Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon Sheikh Zayed Painting Award
   SOLO EXHIBITIONS
   2005 "Personal Living Space", 51st International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

   2004 "It s Me, It"s Okay", Gallery Michela Rizzo, Venice, Italy

   2004 "Tonight is The Full moon, Trapeze Artists Crash and Break Their Necks" curated by Lynn Del Sol and

   Zena El Khalil, Xanadu Gallery, New York, USA

   2004 "The Intolerable Weightlessness", Gallery Tapper-Popermajer, Malmo, Sweden

   2004 "The World of Marya Kazoun, an Introduction" Gallery Tapper-Popermajer, Malmo, Sweden

   2004 "Autoritratto" curated by Boris Brollo, Milano Flash Art Fair, (Juliet room), Hotel Tocq, Milan, Italy

   2003 Self- Portrait, Juliet, Casier, Treviso, Italy

   GROUP EXHIBITIONS
   2005 "Global Art Glass 2005", Vida Museum, Öland, Sweden

   2005 KunstRai, Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

   2005 "Plano Art Association 2005 National Juried Exhibition", TX, USA

   2005 "Taboo", curated by Jerry Saltz, Makeready Press/ Gallery 214, NJ, USA

   2005 "That"s amore!", Milano Flash Art Show, curated by Boris Brollo and Andrea Gorgato, Milan, Italy

   2005 Palm Beach 3, Berengo Fine Arts, West Palm Beach, FL, USA

   2005 "Small Works" curated by Frank Paluch, Harper College, IL, USA

   2005 Bologna Flash Art show, Gallery Michela Rizzo, Bologna Italy

   2004 Projekt30.com (December 2004), USA

   2004 Galleria Michela Rizzo, RIPA Rome art fair, Italy

   2004 "Il Vetro nel Mondo Oggi", curated by Rosenberg, Venice, Italy

   2004 "Night of 1,000 Drawings", Artists Space, New York, NY, USA

   2004 "Fili Spezzati", curated by Luciano Caramel, Como, Italy

   2004 "In a Bind", curated by Rachel Gugelburger, SVA West side Gallery, New York, NY,USA

   2004 "the Luggage Project" cuarated by Max Yawney, Denver Airport, USA

   2004 "The Biennale D"Arte Sacra" curated by Marisa Vescovo, Rome, Italy

   2004 "Venice Village" curated by Paolo De Grandis, Palazzo delle Prigioni, Venice, Italy

   2004 MIART, Milano Art fair, Milano, Italia

   2004 "It"s me, it"s ok", Open Studios, SVA, New York, USA

   2004 "Heavenly Bodies", curated by Anne Ellegood, SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York, NY,

   2004 Stockholm Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden

   2004 Art Miami, Miami, USA

   2003 "Night of 1,000 Drawings", Artists Space, New York, NY, USA

   2003 "Matiere GrasseII", Open Studio, SVA, New York, USA.

   2003 Xhinchu International Art Festival, Xhinchu, Taiwan

   2003 "Strange Fictions", curated by David Row, SVA Soho Gallery, New York, NY, USA

   2003 curated by Rachel Gugelburger, SVA Main Blg Gallery, New York, NY, USA

   2003 "Steady Breath", Open Studios, SVA New York, USA

   2003 Art Miami, Miami, USA

   2002 "La Vitalita dell"Arte" curated by Paolo Rizzi  Museo Diocesane, Venezia, Italy

   2002 "L"Imaginaire Feminin", curated by Pierre Restany, Open 2002, Lido Di Venezia, Italy

   2002 Cine Citta, Michel Angelo Antonioni Gala, Lido Di Venezia, Italy

   2002 "Artists in Glass", Waterford, Ireland

   2002 Art Sud, Paris, France

   2001 "Gothic", Open Studio, SVA, New York, USA.

   2001 "Globalization", curated by Pierre Restany, Open, Lido di Venezia, Italy

   2000 Espace SD Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

   2000 "Quand les artistes s"amusent", Epreuve d"Artiste Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

   1999 La Foire Internationale des Arts décoratifs, Beirut, Lebanon

   1999 United Nation Educational and Cultural Organisation, Beirut, Lebanon

   1998 "Quand les Artistes s"Amusent", Epreuve d"Artiste Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

   1998 "Salon d"Automne", Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon

   1997 "Salon dAutomne", Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon

   BIBLIOGRAPHY
   January 2005, Flash Art, Italia

   December 2004, Mizna (Prose Poetry, and exploing Arab America) Volume 6 Issue 2 2004 November 13tth, USA

   November 2004, Il Gazzettino(nazionale),Italia

   November 2004, Arte, Italia

   Fall 2004, Dekat magazine, South Africa

   September 2004, VI PÀ NÁSET, Sweden

   September 2004, Scanorama, the Scandinavian airlines magazine, Sweden

   August 2004, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Malmo, Sweden

   August 2004, www.altommalmo.se

   August 2004, DygnetRunt, Sweden

   August 2004, 3min on Chanel 14, Canada

   July 2004, ORF, Austria

   July/August, 2003, Espoarte, Italy

   June 2004, Juliet, Italy

   May 2004, www. Artmagazine.cc

   May 2004, Corriere della Sera (magazine), Italy

   May 2004, Vivi milano, Italy

   May 2004, Corriere Della Sera (ed Milano), Italy

   May 2004, Libero, Italy

   May 2004, School of Visual Arts Yearbook, U.S.A

   August 2003, Flash Art, Italy

   February 2003, Flash Art, Italy

   October 2002, Femme Magazine, Lebanon

   October 2002, Venezia news, Italy

   September 2002, Ottagono, design e architettura magazine, Italy

   September 2002, Today"s Outlook magazine, Lebanon

   September 9th 2002, Il Gazzettino, Italy

   August 30th 2002, Il Gazzettino, Italy

   August 2nd 2002, Herald International Tribune, The daily star, Lebanon

   August 9th 2002, L"Orient Le Jour, Lebanon

   November 2001, Today"s Outlook magazine, Lebanon

   November 2001, Deco Architecture and Design Magazine, Lebanon

   November 2001, Femme Magazine, Lebanon

   September 2001, Venezia News magazine, Italy

   September 3rd 2001, Il Gazzettino, Italy

   August 18th 2001, Il Gazzettino, Italy

   August 2001, Herald International Tribune, The Daily Star, Lebanon

   August 8th 2001, L"Orient Le Jour, Lebanon

   August 6th 2001, Al Tafahom Al Riyadi, Lebanon

   August 2001, National Broadcasting Network Television (30 min), Lebanon

   August 2001, Future National Television (30 min), Lebanon

   November 2001, Today"s Outlook magazine, Lebanon

   November 2001, Deco Architecture and Design Magazine, Lebanon

   November 2001, Femme Magazine, Lebanon

   May 1999, L"Orient Le Jour newspaper, Lebanon

   December 1999, Future Television (30 min), Lebanon

   August 2nd 1999, Al Chira"a magazine (weekly), Lebanon

   February 12th 1999, Al Safir newspaper, Lebanon

   January 23rd 1999, Molhak Al Nahar newspaper, Lebanon

   Fall 1998, LAU Magazine Alumni Bulletin, Lebanon

   PUBLICATIONS
   2005 "Milano Flash Art Fair", Catalog of the show

   2004 Flash Art Interantional, publicity

   2004 Mizna (Prose Poetry, and exploring Arab America) Volume 6 Issue 2 2004

   2004 "Il Vetro Nel Mondo Oggi", Book of the show

   2004 "Fili Spezzati", Book of the show

   2004 "The Biennale D"Arte Sacra", Book of the show

   2004 "Venice Village", Book of the show

   2004 "Milano Flash Art Fair", Catalog of the show

   2002 " La Vitalita dell"Arte", Catalog of the show

   2002 "The Glass Arts Festival", Book of the show

   2002 "L"Imaginaire Feminin", Book of the show

   2001 "Globalization", Book of the show