Making Art About Happiness. Interview With Ihab Ahmad

by Alexandra Mansilla

Making Art About Happiness. Interview With Ihab Ahmad

3 Jul 2025

Whenever Ihab Ahmad creates his artworks, he always aims to bring viewers joy and a sense of wonder. His pieces are bright, emotional, spontaneous, and often feel a bit like something from childhood. There is also something inspired by nature in his work — nature is his constant source of inspiration.

Art helps him actually live through his experiences: with bright colours and playful characters, Ihab can really feel the happiness again, and work through the pain from his past.

Until August 20, Firetti Contemporary is showing his solo exhibition, "I PUT MY BRAIN ON PAUSE!", where Ihab unveils a completely new collection. For the first time, he is using oil paint — and for the first time ever, the faces in his artworks are smiling. Previously, his pieces might have had eyes, but never smiles. So why the change? And what does he hope to express with these new works?

— Ihab, if I understood right, when you were a kid, you drew a lot, and you were interested in art from the very beginning. You mentioned that back then, you just drew and painted without thinking about the result, which totally makes sense — you were a kid! But I’m really curious: do you remember any of those early drawings or paintings? What were they about?

— I was eight years old when I first started doodling. It wasn’t really painting — just little doodles and scratches, always drawing something, always keeping my hands busy. I remember my teacher used to tell me I wasn’t paying attention in class because I was always sketching in my agenda or notebook. That is really where it all began.

A couple of years later, I actually won a prize in a big art competition between all the schools in Beirut. I got second place, and I still remember that feeling. I even still have the prize — it was a small toolkit with paints and brushes. My painting back then was nothing special, but for my parents, it was proof that I had some kind of talent.

After that, I had to stop drawing for a while because of the civil war in Lebanon. My family moved to Cyprus, and we didn’t come back to Beirut until after the war.

When we returned, I felt like I really needed to express my feelings. I didn’t have any canvases, but my dad, who was a mechanical engineer, would bring home leftover pieces of cardboard from his office. For me, that was like heaven — finally something to paint on! So that is how I got back into it.

— So for you, art kind of had a healing effect, right?

— When I first started drawing and painting, I didn’t really think about what would come next. I was just expressing my feelings and emotions. But now, looking back, I realise it was actually a kind of healing for me. I went through some trauma during the war, and I never really talked about it or processed it. Art became a way for me to work through those emotions — it was like therapy. It gave me a space to express both the happy moments and deal with the pain from the past.

At the time, I didn’t realise any of this. I wasn’t thinking about the bigger purpose. It is only now, years later, that I understand how important art was for me. Ten or fifteen years ago, I never would have thought about it that way.

Ihab's artworks from different years

— Do you have any pieces that are totally different from what we see online or in your exhibitions? Like, something you have kept in your archive and haven’t shown to the world yet?

— Yes, absolutely. I think sometimes, as an artist, you need to change up your style — not completely, but to let it evolve and develop over time. There was a phase in my life when I really got into making stencils. I loved the whole process: cutting out the shapes, spraying, creating something new. It was just a phase, but I really enjoyed it. I did a lot of faces, and using spray paint and making those stencilled backgrounds was honestly such an amazing experience for me. It let me explore new media and techniques.

I still have those pieces at home — my old collection. No one has taken them yet! I just keep them in my personal archive, almost like a record of everywhere I have been and all the stages I have gone through.

— Now we can see your work in the amazing space of Firetti Gallery, in your show "I PUT MY BRAIN ON PAUSE!" — and for the first time, you have put smiles on the faces. What made you decide to do it now?

— Lately, I have actually been using a little strategy I came up with for myself. When I’m feeling really anxious, unhappy, or worried, I try to do the opposite — I surround myself with positive energy. For example, not long ago, my mom was battling cancer, and that was a really tough time for me, both mentally and emotionally. So I made a point of spending time with funny, uplifting people — they honestly felt like a kind of medicine for me.

I decided to use their faces in my upcoming exhibition as a way to express those experiences and feelings. I want viewers to see the happy side, because that is the emotion I want to share. I’d rather focus on joy than dwell on the tough things I have gone through. So, in a way, making art about happiness is how I cope — I just choose to do the opposite when things get hard.

Ihab Ahmad, "In the Kitchen" (2025); "Ladybird" (2025); "Hope it's just a dream" (2025)

— You have said that you paint to express your feelings, and I imagine you have gone through lots of different phases in your life. Are there one or two pieces that are especially meaningful to you?

— That is a really good question — smart one, actually. Honestly, every time I start a new style or enter a new phase in my art, I enjoy it. I actually feel proud of myself for creating something different each time. So, I can’t say there is one specific period that stands out above the rest — every time I try something new, it feels special.

This exhibition is especially meaningful because it is the first time I have worked with oil paints. A lot of the pieces in this show feel really unique to me. Who knows — maybe I’ll never make anything quite like them again, since my style keeps changing and evolving.

Ihab Ahmad, "Happy faces" (2025)

— By the way, why “I PUT MY BRAIN ON PAUSE!”?

— Honestly, the whole thing started as a group brainstorm between me, Mara, and Celine. We came up with three or four different concepts and then picked one together.

When we were brainstorming, I was explaining to them why I wanted to do this exhibition in the first place. For me, it was about trying to close the gap between myself and my emotions. I wanted to see what would happen if I let myself work more intuitively, without overthinking everything, almost as an experiment in self-exploration. In a way, it was for me first to see how I’d react and what I’d create. Once the work was finished, it became something for viewers too — something they could see, feel, and connect with. But at the beginning, it really started as something I needed to do for myself.

by Alexandra Mansilla