Alex ahmad habli - Sleiman Dayaa
Alex Ahmad Habli is an American Lebanese selftaught artist who specializes in ink art. He is an 80’s kid born in El Khubar, KSA and lived between Sidon, South of Lebanon and Los Angeles, USA. Alex Ahmad’s artistic mother was his first source of inspiration, Picasso influenced him to break all the rules, Vincent Van Gogh energized his lines and circles, and Frida Kahlo motivated his selfexpression. He is also is fascinated with ancient cultures like the Greek, Roman, Mayan, and the Phoenicia. He uses ink pens to manipulate lines and symbols with various thicknesses to give his art a bold sensation that attracts the viewers to analyze multiple stories between the abstract lines.
Do you see yourself designing for fashion ?
As mentioned previously, I picture my art on limitless creations and fashion is a great outlook for this purpose. I can manipulate my lines into patterns that can be printed or embroidered on various designs of clothes and edgy accessories.
What's your experience in mixing art and fashion ?
Since my art is handmade I wanted this to be reflected into my fashion choices, I toured the globe from Italy to Spain and India to find unique heritage techniques and organic fabrics that can showcase the ancient craft of tailoring and embroidery. Each art piece inspired me to create different fashion designs, for instance: the lion artwork led me to use earthy col- ors and cashmere cape with gold and bronze embroideries to capture the strength and royalty of the king of the jungle. I used silk mud and dark tones on an oversize baseball jacket to translate the sensitive side of the majestic elephant. Organic cotton was used on sleeveless long jacket to highlight the toughness of the cactus painting, and many other examples.
What's your future plan and what about your dreams?
My plan is to expand my art vision and to collaborate with fashion designers to produce handmade statement pieces that can stroll down worldwide runways. And I dream to see my creations whether on paper, fabric, or furniture displayed in art galleries and exhibitions so people can enjoy my art as much as I do #frominktoinfinity.
Tell us about you as an artist?
I identify as a self-taught artist who specializes in ink art, I like telling stories with my lines and symbols combining the past with the present. I believe that my art has endless possibilities and it can transform into limitless creations.
How did you start?
At the age of 11 my charcoal pencil was making lines and circles that I couldn’t explain, it was my safe place and escape from reality. Distracted by life, I was disconnected from my art until the age of 36 and after experiencing a major heartbreak the art beast within myself was unleashed and my artistic therapeutic journey has begun.
What inspires you?
I am fascinated with ancient cultures like the Greek, Roman, Mayan, and the Phoenician. The old tales and symbols inspire me and I like to combine them with familiar animal and human body shapes. Family, friends, and my surroundings add to my inspira- tion and its translated into my art pieces.
What type of art you like to create?
I tend to focus on one sub- ject and to create several stories within the lines that lead the viewers to limitless images in their imagination.
I see you're applying your artwork on some fashion pieces, tell us more about it?
I wanted to transfer my ink from paper to fab- ric and make a statement with fashion creations to cater to those who appreciate unique pieces that can stand out from the ordinary. Each piece has a story that was inspired from my drawings. I used 14 different type of top organic fabric such as silk, velvet, cashmere, cotton canvas, etc. These capsule collections are handmade with love in Italy and embroidered with the top artisan in India.