_{Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut, 2014}

Ian Hamilton Finlay (b. 1925, Nassau, Bahamas; d. 2006, Edinburgh, Scotland) studied at the Glasgow School of Art and was a poet, a gardener and an artist. Oftentimes he combined his passions, for example when composing a poem to be inscribed into stone and put as a sculpture into a natural environment. Themes of Finlay’s oeuvre, regardless of the medium, are classical literature from the ancient world, the French Revolution or the „Third Reich“. Also the motives of fishing, sailboats and guillotines are recurring. The execution of Finlays work was often left to „collaborators“ (other artists, craftsmen or illustrators) whom he would always mention notably. By Finlay’s skilled use of syntax and story telling, sophisticated by his lyrical philosophy, he breaks down complex issues into coherent notions and phrases, that drip of his wit and dry humor.      

Many of Finlays works are accessible to the public in public spaces, mostly in Europe. Finlay has partaken in many national and international exhibitions in museums and galleries since the 1970s. He had solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Bremen (2008), Tate Britain (2004), the Scottish National Gallery of Art in Edinburgh (2001) or the Joan Miro Foundation Barcelona (1999). He participated at the documenta 8 (1987) and the 1. Biennale de Montréal Canada (1998). Finlay was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1985.