Artists respond to Beirut blast

A visitor looks at an artwork by British artist Tom Young during a collective exhibition at Arthaus Beirut entitled ‘‘Beirut Year Zero’’.

On the day of the Beirut explosion two months ago, Nabil Debs (54) was planning the opening of his boutique hotel which had been in the works for the past decade.

Instead, the day after the massive blast that killed nearly 200 people, Debs was clearing rubble from the heritage building that was his family home for decades and now a business.

With the debris cleared, the halls of the building are now open to visitors to view more than 100 works by mostly Lebanese and Arab artists, reflecting on the explosion and the turmoil and wars of the past decade.

The initiative, ``Beirut Year Zero’’, features paintings, installations, and sculptures by some 60 artists and aims to raise money to support them and the Lebanese Red Cross, which was at the forefront of rescue and relief work after the blast.

Debs, who is one of the curators of the exhibition, said many artists' studios were destroyed in the explosion which hit Gemmayzeh, a neighbourhood known for its galleries and nightlife, especially hard.

British artist Tom Young, who has been working and living in Lebanon for more than a decade, said the main inspiration for his work was the Beirut port silo, a towering structure which bore the full force of the August 4 explosion, shielding parts of the city from the worst impact.

The exhibition will run until October 14, after which around 30 works will go to London for auction at Christie's.