PARIS — The designer Karen Chekerdjian is known in her native Lebanon for modernist objects made with traditional materials and techniques. Now, two exhibitions in Paris — at the Institut du Monde Arabe and at the private Dutko Gallery — offer a close look at an artist who addresses the divide between art and function, and the wider gap between Western and Arab cultures.
The show at the Institut du Monde Arabe, “Respiration,” opened on May 30 and runs until Aug. 28. The exhibition at the Dutko with the same title closed on Sunday, with pieces offered for sale through August.
“The idea was to show the positive elements of the Arab world,” said Philippe Castro, the chief adviser to Jack Lang, the president of the institute and a former French culture minister. “Today, that can only be shown through Arab art. There is real creativity coming out of the Arab world, especially Lebanon. Given the geopolitical context, we felt it was important to give a voice to this narrative.”
Ms. Chekerdjian, 45, who is of Armenian descent, was raised in Lebanon, the region’s most diverse society, a land unsettled by decades of conflict and turmoil, most recently by fallout from the Syrian war. She began her artistic career in film, then moved on to graphic design before earning a master’s degree in industrial design from the Domus Academy in Milan, where, she said in an interview in Paris, she learned to “think rather than design.”
“My objects do not have a traditional ‘Arab’ feel, in that they are not folkloric or ornamental,” she said. “They have emotion, ambiguity and search for meaning beyond their function. Mine is not a structured, rigid approach to objects.”
“I guess this ambiguity is typically Lebanese,” Ms. Chekerdjian said. “Beirut is a place that is both fragile and violent. My objects represent Beirut.”
At the institute show, Ms. Chekerdjian’s pieces are interspersed among objects from the permanent collection, an effort to “confirm her place within Arab heritage,” said Mr. Castro, whose visit to her studio in Beirut three years ago led to an invitation to exhibit her work.
Her “Spaceship” stools and tables are organic shapes with geometric angles threatening to take flight; arched light fixtures bisect the space they occupy; and plates carved with Arabic calligraphy are displayed alongside pieces representing the birth of Arabic writing.
Her use of traditional materials, namely gold and copper, fabricated with local smithing techniques, places her work within its regional provenance.
“There is always a Lebanese element, but I push further,” she said. “I do not reinterpret.”
Scott Longfellow, the director of D’Days, an annual design festival in Paris, said, “What is interesting is Karen’s relationship to Lebanese savoir-faire.”
“Her pieces are exceptionally well-made,” he added, noting that her designs reference a wide range of eras, including midcentury Italian and 1960s Brazil.
Ms. Chekerdjian’s show at the Institut du Monde Arabe is the first solo exhibition for a designer there, Mr. Castro said. In a low-key way, he said, her work embodies a modern, progressive edge within Arab tradition.
“Despite her orientalism, Karen is a universal artist,” Mr. Castro said. “Arab artists like her are the fresh breath that will shape the future of the region.”
