Ziad Al Najjar Dubai, b. 2001
Emirati visual artist Ziad Al Najjar's exploratory approach to two and three-dimensional art aims to upturn fixed notions surrounding process, materiality, and visual perception.
Establishing an interplay between organic and inorganic forms Al Najjar infuses his symbolically dense work with icons and influence from the natural world. The artist considers the connectedness between the natural, constructed and spiritual realms and how they relate to his lived experience in the contemporary moment. The Islamic miniatures made familiar to him during his childhood regularly appear as motifs within his practice. Scenes of battle, the banal and spiritual practices are often poetically depicted in orchards or gardens. Al Najjar summons this world into his art infusing it with his recent experiences of flora, fauna, or soft shapes that resemble cells under a microfine glass. Delicate and sensual organic forms - some representational some abstract - ungulate across the artist's canvas. Translation and tension - between past and present, structure and wildness - are central to this work.
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Harut and Marut, 2025 Sold
Education
2023 BFA - School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Awards
2018 -2023 Creative Honors Scholarship, Undergraduate, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2018 - 2023 Scholarship, Undergraduate, UAE Ministry of Higher Education, United Arab Emirates
Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions
2023 Symbiotic: Hyperreal (with Talal Al Najjar, curated by Tala Nassar) NYUAD Project Space, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2023 Under Your Eyes, Tabari Artspace, Dubai, UAE
2021 Labyrinth, Bawa Gallery, Kuwait
Group Exhibitions
2024 Tracing the Murmurs, Abu Dhabi Art Fair 16th Edition, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2024 The Art of Living, Architectural Digest, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2023 Postmordial Soup, ICD Brookfield, Dubai, UAE
2023 On the Nature of Things, Sulk Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
2023 Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
2022 Selected Ambient Works – Vol. 0, Chicago, IL, USA
2022 Collective Consciousness, Dubai, UAE 2022 Sikka Art Festival, Dubai, UAE
2020 Waw.exhibit, Maisan15, Dubai, UAE
2020 Magic, Chicago, IL, USA
2019 Art Bash, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Professional Experience
- Gallery Collectional, Creative Specialist
2023, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Appointed creative specialist with responsibilities in creative strategy, communications, exhibition organization, and curation.
- Heaven Gallery, Intern
2021, Chicago, Illinois
Maintained a strong and consistent presence in all aspects of gallery work, which led to gaining practical experience in gallery administration, exhibition setup, curation, sales, event planning, and exhibition submission management.
- Nine-01, Artist Studio
2020 – 2021, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Co-founder,
Activated a vacant commercial space into an artist studio in Galleria Mall Al Barsha in Dubai. Collaborated with three artists who dedicated eight months to activating the space, Facilitating studio visits, gatherings, and collaborationwith fellow artists
Bibliography
2023
Modern Icons, The 2nd edition of the Ricahrd Mille Art Book series, Louvre Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 2024
2023 Canvas Magazine, The Root of It All, Issue 108, Print & Digital, United Arab Emirates, https://read.canvasonline.com/product/issue-108/
2023 https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art-design/2023/03/04/younggeneration-of-gulf-artists-present-new-arab-narratives-at-art-dubai/
2023 https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art-design/2023/01/15/emergingemirati-artists-first-exhibition-is-an-organic-journey-of-intuition-and-colour/
2023 https://www.luxhabitat.ae/the-journal/in-the-studio-ziad-al-najjar/
2023 https://gulfnews.com/friday/art-people/7-must-visit-art-exhibitions-in-dubai-tosee-in-january-1.1673449757544
2023 https://whatson.ae/2023/01/8-great-art-exhibitions-in-dubai-to-check-out-thisjanuary/
2021 Canvas Magazine, The Future Is Bright, Issue 97, Print & Digital, United Arab Emirates, https://read.canvasonline.com/product/issue-97/
2021 Exhibition discovers talents of new artists, Gulf Today, Online article, United Arabs Emirates, https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2021/01/09/exhibition-discoverstalents-of-new-artists
2020 Nine-01: Young Emirati artists transform mall space into art studio, The National, Arts & Culture, Newspaper article/available online, United Arab Emirates, https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/art/nine-01-young-emirati-artists- transformmall-space-into-art-studio-1.1063975