In my paintings, something always happens. It’s instinctive. It’s raw. Direct. Intuitive. The images take birth in my mind, and they come to life. They have a life of their own as they take over and change in the course of it’s creation. I never know where I will end up. But I always know what it is about. The feeling I wish to transmit. 

Most of my artwork, are about people. People relating to others. Holding each other. Looking at each other. Communicating. Sharing or struggling with one another. With a precise feeling in their facial expressions. Their bodies are often entwined in each other, not knowing where one starts and where the other ends. It can be sensual, and at times erotic. It can be also disturbing. Faces can share the same eyes, or the same mouth. But the most important is the feeling of “addition”. What we add to our personalities. To our souls. The connection. We influence each other. Good and badWe cannot stay untouched. We become a bit like the one we observe and feel, the one we touch, embrace, make love to.  In my paintings it is what I am interested to reveal. The narrative is there, but not at the forefront. I wish to give the viewer the freedom to immerse him/herself into my emotional landscape and find resonance in it. That is why I called my visual universe, “SYMBIOSIS “. We constantly immerse ourselves in each other, day to day, from birth to our death. Often through empathy, but also through observance, conflicts and desire. 

Symbiosis, interdependence, is at the heart of who we are as human beings, but in our modern age, a growing loneliness is spreading, due to many factors. Technology is only one of the causes. We have become victims of a culture of vanity. The selfie Culture. We live in a society plagued by narcissistic tendencies, where self-admiration has become a form of hindrance to genuine connections and personal growth. The opposite of “ Symbiosis”. This  is also portrayed in my work. 

I have painted and drawn since I am seven years old. I have never stopped. There hardly goes a day in my life, when I don’t open a book to draw, create a watercolor, or study the work of an artist. I also have two comic strips that narrates the events of my life or my views on societies and politics. They are satirical. 

Having grown up in Beirut and Teheran in the 60’s and 70’s, I was at a very early age exposed to a variation of culture, languages, philosophies of life, food, taste, odors, landscapes and most of all to an amazing warm hospitality.  My mother being a journalist working with an Arabic Newspaper, in the Arts, and being a prolific writer and painter, created in our Beiruti home, in the popular neighborhood of Zarif, a salon for Arabic artists, musicians and writers. She also gave birth to ten kids, my brothers and sisters, who form my loyal and loving clan. It is from that rich colorful world my character was formed, and more than anything, my feeling of being part of a much bigger world that included more than just me and a small group of people. It was a universe of creativity and Love. All this was taken away from us, when the Lebanese civil war broke out in 1976 and we lost everything, having to flee, resulting in our family being torn apart. It took many years for us to find a new way and make  a decent and worthy life in Europe. It wasn’t easy. But thanks for the years in the Middle East, the joys and love that nourished us, we never gave up hope and we managed to carved out lives in Greece and France. I ended up in Norway, where I found great friends who helped me build my life around my artistic talents, particularly drawing. Similarly,  the women I’ve shared my life with, have also made significant contributions  to who I am today. However,  the most profound influence on my personal growth has been has parenthood, and the  love that binds us all together . This personal journey has ultimately shaped the theme of Symbiosis .

Bruce Parramore

Oslo 18 August 2025