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Dalloul Art Foundation
JEHAD AL AMERI JEHAD AL AMERI

JEHAD AL AMERI, Jordan (1977)

Bio

Written by Nathalie Bsat Jehad Al Ameri is a Jordanian artist born in the valley of Jordan in 1977. He was first exposed to graphic arts in grade school, and his creative sensibilities led him to...

Written by Nathalie Bsat

Jehad Al Ameri is a Jordanian artist born in the valley of Jordan in 1977. He was first exposed to graphic arts in grade school, and his creative sensibilities led him to pursue an education in the arts. After completing his undergraduate education in fine arts at Baghdad University in 2002, he returned to Jordan to earn an MFA from Al Yarmouk University in 2010. He later obtained a doctorate in fine arts at the University of Granada in Spain, where he is currently based part-time. When he is not in Granada, Al Ameri lives and works in Amman, and is a current member of the Jordanian Plastic Arts Association.

Al Ameri works on the relationship between poetry and the visual arts. 

As a child growing up in a small agricultural community, he watched farmers singing poetry-like songs while working in the fields, which prompted him to associate poetry with the visual beauty of the landscape. The combination of auditory and visual sensations sewn together with language led to his subsequent belief in the twinned nature of poetry and plastic arts­– a belief that continues to inflect his art to this day. 

History has been another primary inspiration for Al Ameri, who is fascinated by the traces left behind by previous civilizations and the way these traces manifest in the culture of everyday life. The artist finds evidence of this phenomenon wherever he lives, be it Iraq, Jordan or Spain.

The latter, however, is arguably the place that has marked his artistic practice most. Captivated by the medieval palaces of Alhambra, Al Ameri was struck by the abundance of material evidence cataloging the presence of the Arabs in Granada, a civilization whose rich heritage continues to influence the region’s culture today. He took note of the aesthetics employed by the Arabs at the time of their presence in Granada, including the emphasis on architectural symmetry, harmonious balance of geometric shapes, and use of water features like fountains and ponds as reflective surfaces that amplified the effects of light and color. Al Ameri was also inspired to investigate the details on Andalusian women’s faces and paint them.

Al Ameri’s semi-abstract paintings combine these visual elements (and others culled from his life and travels) with the rhythms, melodies, and visual markers of poetry and language. The Arabic letter and forms derived from it is discernible in much of his work, which makes use of bold graphic elements in combination with more subtle gradations of color to create compositions that are at once busy and soothing to the eye. Many of his paintings incorporate the work of classical Arabic poets, such as Ibn Khafajah of al-Andalus (c. 1058-1138).

Today, Al Ameri lives and works between Spain and Jordan, and is a faculty member in the Visual Arts Department at the University of Jordan.

Sources

Patricia. "Jehad Al Ameri : un peintre poète." Qatar Actu. December 01, 2013. Accessed September 05, 2017. http://qataractu.com/jehad-al-ameri-un-peintre-poete-96.html.

"Meet the Artists." Jehad Al-Ameri - Anima. Accessed September 05, 2017. http://www.cdc-qatar.com/jehad-al-ameri.

"Jehad Al Ameri." AlHoush House of Arab Art and Design. Accessed September 05, 2017. http://alhoush.com/jehad-al-ameri.

"جهاد العامري: عشائرية النقد تؤخر ا شهد التشكيلي ا ردني." Al-Quds Arabi, October 01, 2014. Accessed September 05, 2017. http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=228761.

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CV

Selected Solo exhibitions

2014

Tatoo in Water, Orient gallery, Amman, Jordan

2013

Andalusian Curtain, Anima gallery Doha, Qatar

2012

Two poets alive, Euro-Arabi Foundation, Granada, Spain

2009

Jerusalem, first of the thresholds, Al-Mashriq Gallery, Amman , Jordan

2008

A Thread, Four Walls Gallery, Dubai, UAE    
Mirror, Lighter Gallery, Amman, Jordan

2007

Shrine, Gallery Garage, Geneva, Switzerland

2006

A Field, Orfali Gallery, Amman, Jordan

Selected Group exhibitions

2019

Aesthetics, Orient Gallery, Amman, Jordan

2018

Darat Al Funun 30th Anniversary Celebration, Darat Al Funun, The Khalid Shoman Foundation, Amman, Jordan

2017

London Arabia Art & Fashion Week, Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel, London, UK

2016

Journey of 20 Years, Orient Gallery, Amman, Jordan

2007

Lorca, Al-Bayyati, celebration of their poetry, Orfali Gallery, Amman, Jordan

2006

The International Etching Triennal, Cairo, Egypt
Four Artists from Jordan, ArtSpace Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2005

Art & Nature, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan

Awards

2005

Shared the second award at the Annual exhibition of Jordanian Plastic Artists Association, Amman, Jordan
First award in the field of painting, Jordan Youth Festival, Amman, Jordan

Collections

Khalid Shoman Collection: Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan
Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon
Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan
Urbino Universal Center for Etching, Italy
Pro Helvetia Foundation, Switzerland
The Cultural Center for Arts, Toledo, Spain
Zerfas Art Foundation, Greece
Ibrahimi Collection, Amman, Jordan
Collection of Contemporary Art, University of Granada, Spain

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Press
جهاد العامري: عشائرية النقد تؤخر المشهد التشكيلي الأردني
آية الخوالدة
alquds.co.uk, Arabic, 2014
افتتاح معرض «حقل» للفنان العامري فـي «الاورفلي
alrai.com, Arabic, 2006
افتتاح معرض الفنان الأردني جهاد العامري اليوم
albayan.ae, Arabic, 2008
جهاد العامري.. خياط الشجن
حازم سليمان
emaratalyoum.com, Arabic, 2008
Mirror: A exhibition of lithographs and woodcuts by Jordanian artist Jehad Al Ameri
khtt.net, English, 2008
“Objects of the imagination” of contemporary Arab ceramics Exhibition. At Jordan National Museum of Fine Arts
ibrahimicollection.com, English, 2019
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Videos
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Exhibitions

JEHAD AL AMERI Artwork

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