Abdullah Hamas

B. 1953

Born in Abha, Saudi Arabia in 1953, Abdullah Hammas is a graduate of the Institute of Arts in Riyadh (1973). He works as an art teacher in Jeddah and was the Secretary General of the House of Arts, in which he has been greatly involved as a main founder. Recipient of more than a dozen art prizes and contests, Hammas stands among the first painters in Saudi Arabia to have pushed the limits of traditional and decorative painting. His work reflects an abstract quest to link colours and materials to his homeland. His art has gained national and international exposure through many solo and collective exhibitions in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany. Through both his paintings and murals, Hammas’ work has assumed a critical role in shaping the new face of contemporary art in Saudi Arabia.

Adel El Siwi

B. 1952

Egyptian painter Adel El-Siwi was born in Egypt in 1952. Between 1970-1976 he studied medicine at Cairo University before seriously considering a career as a painter. Like other Egyptian artists of the late 1970s, El Siwi, who had emigrated to Europe and North America, was compelled to return to the motherland, drawn by the power of Egypt's legacy of art aesthetic achievement. In 1980 he moved to Milan only to return to Cairo in 1990 where he currently lives and works.

After twelve years of self-training and traveling Europe and Egypt he had his first major show in 1985 at the Cairo Atelier. Since the 1980s he has had solo exhibitions in Egypt, Germany, Lebanon and Italy. He has participated in group exhibitions as far across the globe as Brazil and Mexico. El-Siwi's artistic career is bound up with his political beliefs, involvement in counter-culture and the belief in the vitality of community.

Ayman Yossri Daydban

B. 1966

Ayman Yossri has lived almost all his life in Jeddah and identifies with Saudi Arabia but is in fact a Palestinian with Jordanian nationality. This sense of national dislocation has an effect on his artistic production. Yossri’s studio in Jeddah could stand alone as a work of art. It is a monument to the marginal and eccentric artist. Yossri’s work is characterized by his desire to create situations rather than produce discrete commodities designed to be hung, bought and sold. His exploration of responsive performance and sculpture has led to pieces that interact with the viewer in a personal manner. Daydban engages in the production of experiences, rather than simply producing commodities, designed to be hung, bought and sold. Well respected by collectors and fellow artists in Saudi Arabia, he has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Jeddah since 1992. Daydban first came to international prominence following the Edge of Arabia exhibition at SOAS, Brunei Gallery in 2008 which has since toured to Venice during the 2009 Biennale. His work has featured in Christies Dubai auctions as well as in the group show Balla-Drama, at Paradise Row Gallery, alongside artists such as Mounir Fatmi and Shezad Dawood.

Fahad Al-Hajailan

Fahad Al-Hajailan graduated from fine art school in 1997 and is a pioneer of the modern school in Saudi Arabia. One of the very few Saudi artists dedicated to fine art as a profession. Through his study and experiences, he obtained an excellent degree in Painting and Photography. He teaches Art Education and become professional artist since 1999. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Saudi Arabian Society of Culture and Arts. He participated in exhibitions in the Kingdom and abroad - US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Kuwait, Libya and Bahrain. His paintings were printed as posters that are distributed in other countries.

Halim Al-Karim

B. 1963

Halim Al-Karim was born in 1963 in Najaf, Iraq, he Lives in Denver, Colorado, USA and Dubai, UAE. He graduated 1988 from the fine art academy in Baghdad. He underwent a harrowing experience during the first Gulf War living for almost 3 years in a hole in the ground covered by a pile of rocks. These events have had a profound effect on his life and form the basis for his art practice. The relationship with reality that Halim is constantly questioning through is photograph has led him to work on his images using various techniques, distorting,scratching, coloring, scanning, and repeating them. For Halim these different stages are a metaphor for the layering of time expressing his belief that man lives simultaneously in different temporalities.

Hussein Al Mohasen

B. 1971

Hussein Al Mohasen was born in 1971 in Qatif, K.S.A (Saudi Arabia). He has been working as a professional artist since 1995, while his primary subject is abstract figurative, his work focuses on color and light and not particularly the figures, which mysteriously appear through the colors. Hussein is self-taught and is a member of Bahraini artist’s society. He has also been featured in many solo exhibitions galleries in the Arab World.

Mohammed Al-Ghamdi

B. 1959

Born in Al Baha, Saudi Arabia in 1959, and obtained a diploma in Aviation Engineering from the US in 1982, the Jeddah based artist Mohammed Al-Ghamdi had Six personal exhibitions in Jeddah, in 1996, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008. Recently he participated in the Sharjah Biennale and has contributed to many international events in Rome, Switzerland, Istanbul and Czech Republic. Love of our planet is the central inspiration of all of his work.

Omar El Nagdi

B. 1931

Omar El-Nagdi a sculptor, director, musician and philosopher was born in Cairo in 1931 and studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts Helwan University, in 1953. He participated in many exhibitions and Biennales in Egypt, Europe and the former Soviet Union where he was awarded a one-year scholarship to study ceramics in 1959. Nagdi obtained a diploma from the Venice-based Ruskin Artistic Appreciation Institute, Italy. El-Nagdi made his mark in establishing the Egyptian identity in modern Egyptian art and has been awarded numerous awards including first prizes in Alexandria Biennale in 1966, 1968 and 1974. His works are exhibited at museums in Egypt, Italy, France, USA, England & Korea and has had numerous solo and collective exhibitions around the world.

Hassan Al Sharq

b. 1949

Born in a small village near El Minya town of upper Egypt in 1949, Hassan Al Sharq was not highly educated, but always loved art. He started drawing and painting from a very young age, with primitive brushes and colors. All his thoughts were derived from religion, culture and his primitive environment. He participated in local and international art exhibits including Biennale in Czech Republic, and has exhibited in Germany, France, Switzerland, USA, Kuwait, Palistine, Lebanon, Sweden, Austria, Netherlands and in 2001 was chosen to represent Egypt in Colombia.

Abdulnasser Gharem

B. 1973

Born in 1973 in Khamis Mushait where he lives and works today, Gharem is both a practising conceptual artist and a Major in the Saudi Arabian Army. He studied at the Al-Miftaha Arts Village in Abha, founded a few years earlier by Ahmed Mater, this institution soon became the nerve center of the new art scene that was represented in the 2004 exhibition Shattah, which captured the renewal of the Saudi Arabian scene. From now on, Gharem began using the street as his studio, working in response to his local context. In numerous performances and site-specific installations he drew attention to ecological, geographical, urban and societal issues, recording his actions on video or in photographs. At the same time he was working on a series of stamp paintings in which major events are juxtaposed with the excesses of a bureaucratic system that seems capable of expressing itself only by rubberstamping.

Acclaimed by international critics and now recognized in the Middle East, his work was presented at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 and at the 8th Sharjah Biennial in 2007. His works have been seen in Venice, London, Berlin and Riyadh as part of exhibitions organized by Edge of Arabia.

Ahmed Mater

B. 1979

He was born in 1979, raised in Abha and studied medicine at King Khalid University (Saudi Arabia). His work is informed by his education and life as a medical doctor, as well as by his traditional upbringing and Saudi culture. His journey from a rural community in the mountainous south west of Arabia, to becoming a successful practicing doctor and contemporary artist, brings a compelling originality to a body of work that speaks boldly and with great compassion. Mater has created an iconic visual language within the boundaries of his faith, culture and scientific training. His work is layered with references to his life in the hospital, in the mosque and his experiences living within Arabic culture during an era of great political and cultural turmoil. Against this backdrop, he explores ideas directly connected to his encounters with ordinary people in real life situations, and because of this, the underlying narratives within his work speak to an authentic and universal human experience.

Bassem Al Sharqi

B. 1975

Bassem Al Sharqi, a renowned artist from Saudi Arabia, has an impressive list of exhibitions under his belt. His work reflects the style of Pop Art through a mix of mediums, such as collage, spray-paint, and silk screening. Bassem's art is often characterized by iconic images, such as the Mona Lisa or a classic VW Buggy. When asked about the significance of bringing such images to the Arab world, he replied "These images are universal; they no longer just belong to the Western world". Bassem argues that the subjects he depicts in his artwork are just as recognizable to Arabs as they are to the people of their countries of origin. His goal is to create novel iconic symbols that represent this new generation of Arabs. He asserts that the symbols usually associated with Saudi culture are now outdated and need to be replaced by images that the existing generation can relate to. His art is such an attempt. By representing the contemporary through a vintage medium, such as silk screening, Bassem is "combining the classic with the modern", in order to bridge the chasm of past and present.

Faisal Samra

B. 1956

1956 Born, Faisal Samra is one of Saudi Arabia’s best-known contemporary artists, and has exhibited widely in France, the USA and throughout the Middle East. Following his BA at L’Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts, Paris, in 1975 and a spell teaching at the College of Fine Art in Jordan in 2003, he now resides and works in Bahrain. His body of work is very diverse from paintings and sculptures to video performances and photography

Jamshid Bayrami

B. 1961

Jamshid Bayrami was born in 1961 in Tehran, Iran and was educated and trained in Tehran. As an artist, Bayrami uses photography as a medium and inevitably draws on his vast journalistic experience. His art focuses on social issues, including organized faith, and his forte lies in capturing populaces’ beliefs and rituals. Jamshid Bayrami is one the world’s most accomplished photojournalists, having extensively covered the Iran-Iraq War, and the politics of the Middle East for organisations such as Time, The Economist, Webestan and Agence France Presse. His photograph for the cover of an issue of the Economist has proven one of that publication’s most iconic images. Bayrami has received the UNESCO world prize for photography and the Grand Prize of the Fajr Festival.

Rabab Nemr

Egyptian Artist, Rabab Nemr graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria in 1963 and later earned a doctoral in Art from the San Fernando Academy, University of Madrid, in 1977. She is a Member of the Syndicate of Fine Artists, the Cairo Atelier, and the Alexandria Atelier. She has been Department Director for the Plastic Arts at the Palaces of Cultural in Alexandria. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Egypt and abroad (Jordan, Bulgaria, Kuwait, India, Qatar& Rumania), along with yearly national exhibitions held in Cairo & Alexandria. Among the Collections in which Nemr's work appears are the Tito Museum in Yugoslavia, the Egyptian Cultural Center in Paris, the Museum of the Modern Art in Jordan and the International Conference Center in Cairo. She currently lives and works in Rome and Cairo.

Shadia & Raja Alem

B. 1970

The sisters Shadia and Raja Alem represent one of Saudi Arabia’s only collaborative double acts. Born in Makkah they divide their time between Jeddah and Paris. The inimitable and spiritual bond between the two has allowed them to work together to startling effect. Of the two, Shadia is the visual artist. She graduated with a BA in Art & English Literature from King AbdulAziz University and since 1985 has participated in group and solo exhibitions in Saudi Arabia as well as Egypt, Morocco, Germany, Korea and Paris. Raja is the writer. Her work includes novels, plays and numerous collaborations with artists through which she has become one of the best-known writers in the Arab world. Between them they have been involved in many projects that seek to encourage creativity amongst the youth and women of Saudi Arabia. In this and all their work they’re inspired by female predecessors Safia bin Zagir and Mona Mosaly who exhibited in Jeddah during the 1960s. Initially a series of paintings by Shadia Alem, their piece Jinniyat Lar reached its final form once Raja composed a string of short stories to accompany her sister’s paintings. She wrote forty stories in the space of half an hour. The final piece, with its monsters, magic and flights of imaginative fantasy is in the mold of the great medieval tradition of Arabic storytelling.