Nabil Kanso: Darkness and Light (Part II) | Leaves from the Theater of War: On view

Nabil Kanso: Darkness and Light continues this week with the opening of its second chapter at the Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF). Following the presentation of Kanso's monumental mural-scale paintings and archival material at the Dalloul Artist Collective (DAC), Darkness and Light (Part II) presents Leaves from the Theater of War (1980-1992), the artist's complete series of 242 ink drawings, on view together for the first time anywhere in the world. 

Created over twelve years alongisde his paintings, Leaves from the Theater of War reveals the remarkable range of Kanso's artistic practice. The series unfolds as a single visual journey, beginning with Cain and Abel, the first act of violence between brothers, and moving across centuries to ask enduring questions about power, morality, and what it means to be human. Kanso searched for the recurring patterns that define civilizations, creating a body of work that remains as urgent today as when it was first conceived. 

Together, Parts I and II reveal Kanso's artistic vision. While the monumental paintings at DAC immerse visitors in vast, emotionally charged environments, Leaves from the Theater of War invites a slower, more intimate encounter through pen and ink. Many of the themes that appear in the mural-scale paintings recur throughout the drawings, allowing visitors to trace Kanso's expressions across different mediums. Experiencing both exhibitions reveals an artist continually grappling with memory, history, morality, and the human condition, affirming Kanso's place among the defining voices of modern and contemporary art globally. 

The series emerged as Kanso lived through and followed conflicts closely, beginning with the Vietnam War and the Lebanese Civil War, and later the wars in Korea, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, the Gulf War, and the American interventions in Grenada and Panama. Yet he never treated these events as isolated episodes. Across the drawings, politicians, soldiers, women, and ordinary civilians reappear in different guises, suggesting that history often repeats familiar patterns across generations. 

Critics have long placed Kanso beside Francisco Goya, and Leaves from the Theater of War invites that comparison directly. Like Goya's The Disasters of War, the series builds its force through repetition and accumulation rather than a single dramatic image, unfolding through what Kanso called a tragicomedy in which horror, humour, tenderness, and brutality exist side by side. 

Parts of Leaves from the Theater of War have previously been exhibited at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Art in New York (2024-2025) and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University (2025). Speaking about the significance of the series, Dr. Basel Dalloul, Founder of the Dalloul Art Foundation, stated: "Seeing all 242 works from Leaves from the Theater of War makes it clear that human beings are not one-dimensional; we all contain multitudes and experience a vast range of emotions, identities, and contradictions. The masterful way that Kanso uses negative space and his iconic pen and ink technique ensures that no two viewers will have the exact same experience when entering the visual universe he created." 

Offering a personal perspective on his father's commitment to the work, Dr. Daniel Kanso said: "We felt that it was essential to present my father's monumental paintings and his drawings in two parts of this exhibition because both dimensions are a fundamentally important part of his practice. I think it would be difficult to understand either aspect of his work fully without considering the other. He put a lot of throught into his compositions and the relationship between color, size, and theme. In his drawings from Leaves from the Theater of War, the way he balances mark making with the images he creates is a core part of the iconography he developed to establish an emotional connection that transcends time and place." 

Opening Reception: Wednesday, 29 July 2026 | 6:00 - 9:00 PM 

Dalloul Art Foundation (DAF) 

Exhibition on View: 29 July - 25 September 2026