Phat2

George Khoury aka Phat2 is the king of Lebanese Graffiti.

Influenced by the works of American pioneers, he gradually defined his own style, combining increasingly complex lettering with ever-vibrant colors.

The name Phat2 quickly appeared everywhere in Beirut: his pieces were easily identified as he became the most active graffiti artist in Lebanon within months, whose discipline experienced a particularly strong growth in the 2010s. After a decade of prolific activities in the street where he left his colorful imprint on the Lebanese capital, Phat2 focused on a new chapter in his artistic career.

His most recent project is centered on digital colorizations of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira’s original serialization in Young Magazine’s title pages from 1983 to 1990. Curated to include some reworked classics but mostly focused on those left uncolored by Steve Oliff after consolidating the initial 120 episodes into 38 chapters for the American version.

The reason for this endeavor is deeply personal to the artist and stems from rooted childhood memories, their sudden re-emergence after the tragic Beirut port blast, and their eerie resemblance to the events of the historic manga.