Edgard Mazigi (b. 1955, Beirut) is a Lebanese painter whose work explores the fertile territory between abstraction and figuration. He studied Textile Engineering at ESITL Lyon, France, before pursuing painting at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture, where he graduated with a Certificate and Excellence in Painting.
After returning to Lebanon in 1999, Mazigi dedicated himself fully to his artistic practice. His paintings emerge through an intuitive process in which abstract gestures gradually reveal recognizable forms, creating evocative compositions that engage with memory, perception, and the expressive potential of paint. Influenced by post-war American painting, his work is characterized by dynamic brushwork, richly layered surfaces, and a nuanced dialogue between spontaneity and control.
Alongside his studio practice, Mazigi has participated in numerous group exhibitions and international art fairs, and has taught painting at Lebanese American University and Saint Joseph University of Beirut. He lives and works in Beirut.
Essay by Gregory Buckajian (excerpt)
Edgard Mazigi is perhaps the most unknown known Lebanese painter. Known, as for the past two decades, his name, his face and his work have acquired notable visibility and reputation in the art scene. Unknown, because most people, even the amateurs who regularly attend his exhibitions, are not actually conscious of what lies beneath his compositions. The human figures inhabiting his landscapes or interior scenes look motionless, as if their action had been frozen indefinitely. This immobility gives them an air of contemplation and timelessness. There is a strong sense of narration and while we acknowledge that something is happening, has happened or will happen, however we are denied a clear story. The mysterious aura growing around these paintings and drawings is interrelated to the peculiarity of the artist’s process: Mazigi’s canvases start with totally abstract marks and complete with recognizable images.