Born in Karak, Jordan, in 1955, Khalid Khreis is a Jordanian artist who has worked in a myriad of mediums ranging from painting, lithography, woodblock printing to sculpture. He studied in Egypt, Spain, Italy, and Mexico, obtaining a Ph.D. in the Philosophy and History of Art from the University of Barcelona in 1993. Khreis currently holds the position of General Director of the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts in Amman. 

Khalid Khreis yields to the power of the subconscious in his enigmatic abstract expressionist paintings. However, he is attentive to the world around him, precisely the social and political events in the Arab world. To stimulate his inner thoughts, he listens to traditional Arabic music or meditates in a state of silence. In his work, Khreis negotiates the authority of minimal shapes within a palette of contrasting colors. The final product is a collection of vibrant abstractions in acrylic on canvas amassed with multi-colored dots against a single-toned background. The dots may depict daily crowds of people or imaginary stars in a vague universe. Mimicking the washing effect of rain, Khreis produced paintings applying dripping dabs of watercolor on cotton paper. His gestural black lines inspired by Arabic calligraphy, swirl, and lengthen within his works voicing the artist’s inner deluge of feelings.

An active member of the art scene, Dr. Khalid Khreis curated numerous local and international exhibitions. He received the First Prize, Joan Miro International Contest from the Spanish Arab Institute in Madrid in 1985, the National Award for Excellence in Art, Amman in 1995, and the Medal of the Commander of the Order of Civil Merit, awarded by King Juan Carlos I of Spain in 2004. Khreis lives and works in Amman.

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