Exhibit: 'Be the Change You Seek!'

The work that Lebanese-born artist Chawky Frenn will exhibit in February show comes with a message: "be the change you seek!"

The exhibit, titled "Be The Change You Seek!", opens Wednesday, Feb. 1, and continues through Saturday, Feb. 25, in BlackRock's main gallery. Frenn will speak at the opening reception — 4 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 — and will give a free lecture about his work 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1.

Frenn said his artwork aspires to call attention to “the incongruence of religion, the deception of politics, the tyranny of the economy, the delusion of the masses, and the vulnerability of the environment,” according to a press release from BlackRock. 

Frenn is a well-travelled artist, exhibiting extensively nationally and internationally and gaining critical acclaim along the way. He said his artwork is influenced by the physical beauty and the turmoil of civil war of his birthplace, Zahlé, Lebanon, the BlackRock press release states.

“I paint to give a voice to my belief in the nobility and the dignity of being human," Frenn said in the release. "One becomes human when one sees individuals with similar basic needs and aspirations, rather than religious, political, and economic ideologies.”  

Frenn lives in Arlington, Va., and teaches at George Mason University.