Dalloul Art Foundation

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Dalloul Art Foundation
NASSER SOUMI NASSER SOUMI

NASSER SOUMI, Palestine (1948)

Bio

Born in 1948, in Palestine, Nasser Soumi is a painter and installation artist based in Paris. In 1977 he graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in Damascus, Syria. In 1980 he pursued his...

Born in 1948, in Palestine, Nasser Soumi is a painter and installation artist based in Paris. In 1977 he graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in Damascus, Syria. In 1980 he pursued his studies at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, France, graduating in 1982. Soumi co-founded the Artist Association of Palestine with filmmaker Samir Abdallah. He depicts Palestine from the perspective of a native Palestinian living in exile. The place is central to his work; he addresses it in its physical and conceptual form. His themes revolve around displacement and loss. Soumi’s artistic practice took a turning point in 1993 when he was invited by Anadeil Gallery in Jerusalem in collaboration with the French Cultural Center, to show at their space. During his one month stay in Palestine, Soumi had the chance to experience his homeland at first hand. He investigated its geographical, architectural, and social landscape. Subsequently, Soumi began a series of conceptual works created as an homage to towns and villages in Palestine,  inclusive of Akka, Jaffa, Nablus, Tiberius, and Jerusalem.

His body of work is there to voice a Palestinian narrative. It comprises of paintings, archival photographs, printed fabric, ready-made objects, and installations. To revive the memory of the blue shores of Jaffa, Soumi created paintings saturated with indigo blue hues framed within memorable wooden windows of the city. Onto his paintings, he added dried orange peels as a symbol of Jaffa’s fertile orchards. As a tribute to Nablus, known for its production of olive oil-based soap, Soumi used several square soap blocks and had them lit as candles in an installation he entitled Jabal el-Nar in Arabic, meaning bonfire.

Soumi is known for his signature pigment - Indigo blue - which is symbolic of the Mediterranean coastal area of Palestine. Besides, he produced paintings using vivid colors applied with gestural brushstrokes in an abstract expressionist style. His most adopted regional symbol is that of the Dome of the Rock. It appears reductive and washed away within his splashing layers of paint, where its architectural structure is often depicted in a graphical representation. Soumi has participated in public and participation art. His latest work includes the intervention of the public to stamp the palm of their hand onto a massive sheet of fabric that eventually cover and rid away from the apartheid wall of Palestine.

Nasser Soumi still lives and works in Paris, France.

This is a short biography. The full version , along with research, CV and sources will be posted soon. Stay tuned and visit us often or become a member to be notified of our updates.

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CV

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2021

The Dove, The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit, Palestine

2020

Weed Control Exhibition, A. M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah, Palestine
Icon To Jaffa 3, The Palestinian Museum, Birzeit, Palestine

2019

Entre Terre et Ciel, Galerie Mark Hachem, Paris, France

2014

Watadour, concept and scénographie, Al Madina Theatre, Beirut, Lebanon

2012

The Sound of the universe, Elbareh Gallery, Bahrein

2011

Between Ebal and Gerzim, Bir Zeit University Museum, Nablus, Palestine
Nebila, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2010

Mémoire d’Indigo, Aleppo Citadel, Aleppo, Syria

2007

Mère, Fils et Esprit, Art International, Paris, France

2006

Museo della Città et del Territorio, Cori, Italy
Memory of Indigo, Sheiparamam, Hyderabad, India

2005

Olive Tree photographs from Palestine, Duke Diwan, Amman, Jordan

2004

Hommage à Shafic Abboud, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris, France

1999

Mise en Lumière, École Nationale supérieure de creation industrielle, Paris, France

1998

Traces of the XXth Century, Robert Debré Hospital, Paris, France
Traces of the XXth Century, Le Viaduc des Arts, Paris, France

1996

Icon for Jaffa, Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan

1993

Anadil Gallery, Jerusalem, Palestine
Lelia Mordoch Gallery, Paris, Framce

1992

Belad Asham Gallery, Aleppo, Syria

1991

Traces of Avignon, Place du Palais des Papes, Avignon, France

1990

A.R. Gallery, Brest, France
Maison des Associations Galerie, Marseille, France

1989

Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris, France
Sonia/K Gallery, Lille, France

1984

Galerie Le Point Nommé, Paris, France

1979

Sad Memories, Goethe Institute, Beirut, Lebanon

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019

Intimate Terrains, Musée de Palestine, Birzeit, Palestine

2018

Keyword: Palestine, Dar El-Nimer, Beirut, Lebanon

2017

Art Basel, Gallery Vivendi, Zawya Gallery,Ramallah, Palestine
Shifting Ground, The 13thSharjah International Biennial, Ramallah, Palestine

2016

Unlike Other springs, Birzeit University Museum,, Palestine
Contemporary Art from within and beyond the border, Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection

2015

Bridge to Palestine, Mark Hachem Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
L’écho au chaos Bridge, Mark Hachem Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon

2014

La Planète Bleue, Musée National Adrien Dubouché, Limoges, France
Bridge to Palestine, Mark Hachem Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Bridge to Palestine, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut, Lebanon

2013

400 Years of Palestine Creativity, Bank of Palestine Hall, Betlehem, Palestine

2012

Refraction – Moving Images on Palestine, P21 Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2010

Lélia Mordoch Gallery, Paris, France

2005

Fête de l’Eau, Installation Nuage Rectangulaire, Wattwiller, France

2004

The Contemporary Art Biennale, Mitry-Mory, France

2001

Le Pont Neuf Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
La Teinturerie Art Gallery, Paris, France
Les Ateliers Arabe, UNESCO Palace, Beirut, Lebanon

2000

Kamariya Art Gallery, Bir Zeit, Palestine

1999

Navarra Gallery, Paris, France

1997

Printemps Palestinien, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
The Cube, The 4thSharjah Art Biennale, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

1996

The 6thCairo Biennale, Cairo, Egypt

1993

Danièle Mitterand Foundation, Lille, France
Livre de la Paix, UNESCO Palace, Paris, France

1991

Salon Art Jonction, Nice, France
A.R. Gallery, Brest, France

1986

The 1stCairo Biennale, Cairo, Egypt
Salon de Comparaison, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw, Poland

1985

Petit Format International, Taller Galeria Fort, Cadaques, Spain
The 9thArab Biennale, Kuwait City, Kuwait
Salon Le-Trait, Paris, France

1982

The 33rdSalon de la Jeune peinture, Jeunes Expressions, Le Grand-Palais, Paris, France
The 13thSalon des Arts, Cholet, France
Petit Format International, Taller Galeria Fort, Cadaques, Spain
Salon Le-Trait, Paris, France

1981

Kunstnernes Hus Art Gallery, Oslo, Norway

Curatorial Projects

“ETERNAL RHYTHMS”, Birzeit University Museum, Ramallah, Palestine, March, 2020

Collections

Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon
Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar
Athar Gallery, Baghdad, Iraq
National Museum of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq
Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan
Ministry of Culture, Damas, Syria
Ministry of Culture, Paris, France
British Museum, London, United Kingdom

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Videos
Artists for Palestine : des milliers de mains pour faire tomber le mur
Intimate Terrains Opening - Press Conference 2019 المؤتمر الصحفي الخاص بافتتاح معرض اقتراب الآفاق
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Exhibitions
Winter Collective
Weed Control
Rituals of Signs and Transitions (1975-1995)
Intimate Terrains: Representations of a Disappearing Landscape
TAJREED – A SELECTION OF ARAB ABSTRACT ART 1908 – 1960

NASSER SOUMI Artwork

Return of the Swallows

NASSER SOUMI, Palestine, 2012
122 x 100 cm

Icon of Baal and Ashtar

NASSER SOUMI, Palestine, 2013
122 x 122 cm

Jaffa

NASSER SOUMI, Palestine, 2013
122 x 100 cm

Renaissance

NASSER SOUMI, Palestine, 2001
220 x 165 x 9 cm

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