In the present lot, Serwan Baran uses exhilarating colours. This piece features a highly abstracted figure that stretches expansively across the canvas, enveloped in a rich tapestry of texture that dances between transparency and opacity. Set against a complex background, the technique employed by Baran suggests that the paint has been either delicately scratched away or wiped off, artfully creating areas of negative space. This method not only enhances the visual depth of the work but also introduces a compelling contrast between the figure in the foreground and its surrounding milieu. Baran's manipulation of both colour and form invites viewers into a dynamic and textured visual experience.

Born in 1968 in Baghdad, Serwan Baran received a BFA from the University of Babylon, College of Fine Arts in 1990. The decade following his graduation, the artist started exhibiting in Baghdad, winning multiple prizes namely at the Baghdad International Festival of Visual Arts in 1994 and 1995. Having received mentorship from Faik Hassan and Marwan Kassab Bachi, Baran seems to have welcomed their influence as part of his unique artistic identity. He settled in Amman, Jordan in the 2000s to finally move to Beirut, where he currently resides and works. Having been enrolled in the army, Baran’s art often centres on poverty, war (mostly in Iraq), tension and anxiety, without a hint of romance, but rather in a very honest realistic manner. His recent works often feature an infusion of Figurative Realism into abstract works.