Abdulnasser Gharem

Abdulnasser Gharem (b. 1973, Khamis Mushait, Saudi Arabia) lives and works in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He engages with themes of control and authority, as well as a desire to preserve and respect the history upon which traditional art is built. In his country, Gharem has paved the way for the past twenty years with his unwavering commitment to social and political change through his artistic practice, and to the propagation of his studio school’s ongoing effort to foster truth, teach compassion, and develop ideas that break boundaries.

Gharem invites us to look more closely at the ideological and physical barriers we’ve created that separate people on this planet. By seeing and listening, we have the possibility of understanding that different ideas, cultures, and beliefs have currency.

Abdulnasser Gharem graduated from the King Abdulaziz Academy in 1992. He later attended The Leader Institute in Riyadh, and in 2003 he studied at the influential Al-Meftaha Arts Village in Abha. Gharem had his first museum solo exhibition in the United States in 2017 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). He has participated in one-person and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia, the Gulf and the USA, including the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; Chalet Saqqarah, Gstaad, Switzerland; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; the Station Museum, Houston, TX; Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, ME; Utah Museum of Contemporary Art Salt Lake City, UT; Art Museum of the University of Memphis, Memphis, TN; among others. Additionally, Gharem participated in the 53rd and 54th editions of the Venice Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia).

His work is in private and public collections including The British Museum, London, UK; V&A Museum, London, UK; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA; Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy; Greenbox Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture & Information, Saudi Arabia; BASMOCA: Basma Al Sulaiman Museum of Contemporary Art, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; The Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; among others.