President of the Lebanese Artists Association – Painters and Sculptors, El Rayess taught for many years at the Lebanese University and the American Lebanese University. With the outbreak of the civil war in Lebanon, he relocated to Saudi Arabia and was appointed as the city of Jeddah's art consultant for many years. He had been commissioned by the Saudi Arabian government to produce several sculptures. One of the most outstanding is that of the stylized name of Allah. Designed by him and built in Italy from aluminum, it stands twenty seven meters high in Palestine Square in Jeddah. Among the artist's most recent works is a series of oil paintings capturing the nature and feeling of the Arabian desert.