December 3 – 20 Mission Art
Mission Art gallery is pleased to present “The Nightingale Grows Drunk – Meditating on Omar Khayyam,” a solo exhibition by artist Gérald Foltête, curated by Grégoire Prangé.
Inspired by Omar Khayyam’s Rubáiyát, this exhibition celebrates the ephemeral beauty of life. For Gérald Foltête, creation is a plunge into the unconscious and a bridge towards the other. His work invites us to be reborn, endlessly, like the greenery that springs anew from the earth.
This exhibition is the first part of a diptych that will conclude at Domaine SEPT in the spring of 2026, a natural collaboration with winemaker Maher Harb, who is also an admirer of Khayyam.
Toufic el Zein
Mission Art
December 2025
Behold, the rose has opened to the morning breeze;
The nightingale grows drunk on its youthful beauty.
Let us drink wine, for how many roses, by the wind,
Have been cast to the earth and returned to dust!
Omar Khayyam
If Gérald Foltête is acutely aware that all roses must turn to dust, he nevertheless soaks himself with their ephemeral beauty; it is at the heart of this tragic destiny that he finds the foundation of his entire body of work.
In this vital search, he is accompanied by literature, poetry, and the great authors who often form the very raw material of his art. There is Artaud, Camus, and Dostoevsky, Ogawa, Hesse, and Van Gogh. There is also Forough Farrokhzâd, Sohrâb Sepehri, Nader Naderpour, Simine Behbahani and Khalil Gibran; Amin Maalouf, Etel Adnan, and Omar Khayyam – the Rubáiyát form the bedrock of this exhibition.
Gérald Foltête maintains a constant connection with Lebanon, both intimate and artistic. It was here that he was born as an artist almost twenty years ago, and here that he extracted precious pearls from the depths of his being—those all too often buried beneath the ruins of the world.
O world, you heap ruin upon ruin,
And endlessly overwhelm us.
O earth, if one were to open your breast,
What precious pearls lie buried within!
Omar Khayyam
The exhibition, much like its planned echo this spring at the SEPT winery in Nehla, exists at the intersection of Khayyam’s precious pearls and his wine. From two vine stocks emerge terracotta heads. They emanate from their roots and tendrils, from those sinuous networks that act as relational channels, symbols of our past, present, and future connections. They arise from and remain attached to them, like a metamorphosis in progress, or the personification of our social cultures.
These networks are found throughout the exhibition; they compose the ink drawings and connect the verses of Gibran or Khayyam. Fluid, they merge with wine—that “firewater”—and enter into a dialogue with the many-faced Dionysus. They represent impermanence, movement, and ultimately, life itself… and its promise of rebirth.
Ah, to live in peace!
Ah, for an end to this long road!
Ah, if after a hundred thousand years, from the heart of the earth,
We could be reborn like the verdant green!
Omar Khayyam
In his work, Gérald Foltête plunges inward and awakens his life impulses—for him, it is always a matter of being reborn. Artistic creation thus becomes a gateway to the unconscious, while simultaneously building a bridge that reaches outward, towards others…
— the nightingale has flown away.
Grégoire Prangé
Paris, October 2025
Biographical Notes:
Gerald Foltête: (Besançon, 1966) is a French artist, living and working in Paris. Before dedicating himself fully to art, he worked across several professional fields.
In 2008, Gérald ceased all other activities to devote himself entirely to his art. He spent ten years in the studio of his home in Grasse, developing his visual and artistic paths. In 2018, he moved to Paris, where he continues his experiments, including performances in various public spaces. His works have been featured in several solo and group exhibitions in France and across Europe.
Grégoire Prangé: (Toulon, 1993) is an art critic and curator. He lives and works in Paris and Lille. He co-founded the Jeunes Critiques d’Art collective in 2015 and the YACI – International Young Art Criticism confederation in 2019. Since 2017, he has co-curated around twenty exhibitions in France and abroad, held in museums, galleries, and artist-run spaces. He has also contributed to the writing of approximately fifteen exhibition catalogues and artist monographs. He currently holds a position at a museum while continuing his work in writing, research, community arts organization, and artist support.
Domaine SEPT: For the past ten years, Domaine SEPT has passionately pursued its mission: to craft honest wines that are pure reflections of their terroir. A true pioneer of natural winemaking in Lebanon, the domaine expresses the very essence of its lands through minimal intervention, allowing nature and the spirit of the place to speak through every bottle.
Mission Art: Art as a Mission. Founded in 2018 by Ghiath Machnok and Toufic El Zein, Mission Art is built on a simple idea: art is a mission.
Why a mission? Because we want to bring creativity to life, without borders. We support artists by offering them residencies and spaces to work. We also build bridges with the world of education.
What makes us unique? We provide a platform for unseen works by artists connected to Lebanon and the Middle East.