Houman Al Sayed is best known for his large-scale paintings that depict alienated, shock-ridden subjects, whose disproportionately sized, swollen faces attest to their confusion and isolation.
Syria
Cultural Narratives, commissioned by Rima Nasser, features works from established and emerging artists in the Middle
Egypt
Walid Ebeid was born in 1970 in Cairo. He began to establish his form of realistic expressionism from the time he was six years old. The main theme of his paintings gives one the impression that there is always a mystic message behind the realistic visuals recreated with his own vision.
Lebanon
Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, Layal Khawly studied Interior Architecture at ALBA and later obtained an MA in Visual arts. Her paintings engage with the sociopolitical environment of Lebanese villages and cities, specifically the architectural and structural complexity of her surroundings, that are brought to life through layered painting techniques.
Lebanon
Rached Bohsali is a trained architect and painter whose work has been exhibited widely in his native Beirut, the Arab world, Europe and the United States.
Lebanon
Artwork
Iran
Artwork
Palestine
Mohammed Joha was born in 1978 in Gaza. His paintings, though playful in style and bold in colour, offer a critique of Arab and Western media bias and their (mis)representation of Arab culture.
Iraq
Leila Kubba was born of a Swiss American mother and Iraqi father. She was educated in Baghdad and went on to graduate with a National Diploma of Art and Design from the Manchester School of Art and Architecture in the UK and also studied for a period of five years at the Corcoran College of Art in Washington DC, as well as taking courses in printmaking and painting at Saint Martins College, London.
Iran
Biography Kaveh Irani is a visual artist from Iran. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University in Vancouver, Canada, in 2006, and his Master of…
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Biography Nada Rizk is a Lebanese Finnish artist specialising in ceramics and bronze. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations from the London School of Economics and a…
Syria
Alaa Sharabi was born in Damascus in 1988 and studied printmaking at the University of Damascus where he was later appointed as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts. His bold paintings combine rich palettes with frenetic lines and complex compositions.
Iraq
Born in 1953 in Baghdad, Nawal Alsadon graduated in 1980 in Graphic Design from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania. She began participating in group exhibitions in 1975, beginning with The Association of Iraqi Artists gallery in Baghdad, and since then has had her art shown in numerous exhibitions across the world, including in Romania, Yemen, Syria, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Scotland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Turkey.
Syria
Born in Damascus, Syria in 1976, Elias Izoli is a self-taught painter whose creative talents were revealed at a young age.
Syria
Born in Damascus in 1964, Bassem Dahdouh studied art at the University of Damascus and received his PhD from Egypt’s Helwan University.
Lebanon
Born in Lebanon in 1957, Hala Choucair is a painter who is best known for her intricate paintings that focus on the minute detail of the objects she draws.
Iran
B. 1990, Tehran, living in Vienna since 2008.
Lebanon
Oregon-based artist Yasmina Nysten was born in Helsinki in 1988 and has lived in Finland, France, Lebanon, New York and Philadelphia. She studied Fine Arts at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Art (ALBA) and Digital Animation at New York’s Pratt Institute.
United Arab Emirates
Hussain Sharif is one of the United Arab Emirates’ foremost
conceptual artists, who has contributed widely to the development
of art in his native country, founding the Emirates Fine Art Society
in Sharjah along with his brother, Hassan Sharif, and Mohammed
Kazem, Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim and Abdullah Al Saadi.
Lebanon
Born in Dahr El Sawan, in 1965, Julie Bou Farah graduated from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) where she later went on to teach in 1991. Farah has also held teaching positions at Notre Dame University and the Lebanese University.
Lebanon
Biography Abir Tabbarrah Tukan, born on December 26, 1976, in Como, Italy, is a contemporary Arab artist specialising in oil painting. She grew up between war-torn Beirut, Lebanon, and peaceful Amman, Jordan,…
Iran
Artwork
Lebanon
Born in 1959 in Deir El Kamar, Lebanon Jacques Rizkallah graduated from the Lebanese University of Fine Arts, after which he studied Mural and Fresco Painting in Rome, Italy. His abstract works explode with color.
Iran
Artwork
Iran
Artwork
Lebanon
Artwork
Tunisia
Born in Sfax in 1961, artist Adnene Hadi Sassi is a painter and holds a degree in Sciences and Techniques of the Arts. Curiosity and doubt are at the origin of his artistic practice and his goal is to diversify the manner in which he approaches the same subject.
Palestine
Mohammed Al Hawajri was born in 1976 in the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza. Between 1999 and 2001, Al Hawarji participated in the Darat Al Funun Summer Academy in Amman, Jordan led by Marwan Qassab Bashi, and in 2008 he received a grant to study at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Biography Samia Osseiran Jumblatt, born in Saida, South Lebanon, in 1944, studied Fine Arts at Beirut College for Women, graduating in 1965, and earned her MFA from the Pius XII Institute in…
Kuwait
Ghadah Alkandari is an artist living and working in Kuwait, born in India in 1969 with a BA in Mass Communications from the American University in Cairo (1992).
Syria
Born in Kraia, Syria in 1954, Lutfi Romhein studied sculpture at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, Italy in 1985. The artist works with
wood, marble, plaster and steel. He sculpts aerodynamic, smooth
and soothing figures, animals and abstract shapes.
Egypt
Biography Eman Hussein was born in 1986 in Cairo, Egypt. She is an Egyptian architect and artist who leads a creative studio that blurs the boundaries between art, architecture, and design. Eman…
United Arab Emirates
Shaikha El Kutbi is a visual artist who works primarily in photography, drawing, and installation art. Her work is self-reflexive, exploring themes of self-awareness and perceptibility and often blurring the line between fiction and reality.
Egypt
Biography Perry El Ashmawi was born in Bahrain in 1988 to Egyptian parents. She earned a BA in Fine Arts, specialising in Painting and Drawing, from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, in 2009.…
Iran
Artwork
Lebanon
Artwork
Syria
Born in Damascus in 1968, Boutros Al-Maari studied printmaking in Syria and received a Doctorate in Social Anthropology from EHESS in Paris, France. Both cultural contexts are reflected in his distinctive paintings.
Lebanon
Nadim Karam is a multidisciplinary artist, whose work incorporates painting, drawing, and sculpture through a distinct artistic style that draws from Oriental and Japanese theories of space.
Lebanon
Born in Lebanon in 1966, Charles Khoury creates works characterised by highly animated abstracted bodies and brightly coloured canvases.
Jordan
Biography Zaid Shawwa, from Jordan, studied Engineering at the University of Jordan and earned an MBA from the American University in Dubai. He began with classic charcoal portraits and landscapes before transitioning…
Tunisia
Ekram Tira was born in Tunisia in 1982 and holds a degree in Fine Arts, with a specialization in engraving, and a master’s degree in Sciences and Techniques of the Arts from the Higher Institute of Fine Arts of Tunis. She has been teaching art since 2007.
Lebanon
Artwork
Lebanon
Born in Lebanon in 1954, Ghassan Zard lives and works in Beirut. Influenced by lyrical abstraction, Zard began his artistic career as a painter but later focused predominantly on sculptural works rendered in polished wood, aluminium and raw steel.
Iran
Born in Tehran, Iran in 1986, Sepideh Zamani completed her BFA in
Sculpture at the Art University of Tehran. She began her artistic
venture as a graphic designer, working in advertising companies.
Jordan
Biography Hind Nasser, born in Amman in 1940, graduated with a BA in History and Politics from Beirut College for Women (now the Lebanese American University) in 1961. She began studying painting…
Iran
Artwork
Lebanon
Artwork
Tunisia
Born in Bizerte, Tunisia in 1965, Imed Jemaiel shifted his attention to the arts after two years of medical school. In 1990, he earned a degree in Fine Arts, specialising in printmaking. In 1992, he started teaching at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Tunisia.
Palestine
Ayman Essa lives and works in Gaza. He obtained his BA in Fine Arts, specializing in Photography, from Al-Najah University in Nablus in 1999 and holds a Master’s from Helwan University in Egypt. His distinct color palette comprised of mainly blue, red and pinkish hues, defines his bold large-scale figurative paintings series. Focusing solely on the female form, Essa’s works are recognizable through their exaggerated, curvaceous forms and at times coquettish gestures. He has participated in several group exhibitions including The Path at Dar Al-Karameh Hall in 1999 and the Red Crescent Society in Gaza in 2001. His work has also been exhibited internationally, including the Biennial for Young Artists in Rome in 1999 and the We Will Become exhibition (2004-5) which involved ten artists traveling from Gaza to several cities in France.