Drawing inspiration from the decorative patterns of Islamic art and the American abstract painting of the mid 20th century, painter and mixed-media artist Nabil Nahas makes innovative use of organic materials, including seashells and starfish, which he casts in acrylic paint and mounts on a support (typically canvas). His works have an all-over composition suggestive of biological growth and the patterning of nature, as in Full Spectrum (1999). In his more recent paintings, including Untitled (2007), Nahas has introduced imagery referencing the trees and other plant-life of his native Lebanon. Publish on the occasion of the exhibition at the Ben Brown Fine Arts 3December 2011