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AbdulRahim Salem

Visual Artist

Emirati • Based in Dubai, UAE

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Languages: Arabic

Abdulraheem Salem is an Emirati visual artist and sculptor whose practice has shaped the UAE’s modern visual arts landscape. Working across sculpture and painting, he brings Arab and Emirati symbols into an expressive visual language grounded in memory, landscape, and human feeling.

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2020 - 2021
Abdulrahim Salim: Between Chaos and Serenity
Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, UAE
2023 - 2024
Muheera & I
Aisha Alabbar Gallery, UAE

Group Exhibitions

1969
Bahrain Annual Fine Arts Exhibition
Bahrain
1983
Negative-Positive
Al Ahli Club, UAE
1983
First Al Banoosh Exhibition
UAE
1983
Gulf Cooperation Council Art Exhibition
Qatar
1984
Second Al Banoosh Exhibition
UAE
1985
Second National Arts Exhibition
UAE
1988
Third International Cairo Biennial
Egypt
1990
First Exhibition of the Emirates Fine Arts Society in India
India
1992
Fifth International Cairo Biennial
Egypt
1993
Sharjah Biennial 1
UAE
1995
Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh
Bangladesh
1996
Arabian Colours, Sharjah Art Museum
UAE
1998
The UAE in the Eyes of Its Artists
Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, UAE
2000
UAE Expo
Germany
2001
Sharjah Biennial 5
UAE
2005
Languages of the Desert
Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany
2007
Al Bahar Exhibition
Saudi Arabia
2011
Unconventional
ADMAF, UAE
2015
UAE Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennale
Italy
2016
Portrait of a Nation
Abu Dhabi Festival, UAE

Artistic Practice

RESEARCH APPROACH

A practice concerned with Emirati identity and Arab cultural memory, using visual form to hold personal recollection and shared symbols.

KEY THEMES

Identity, cultural memory, landscape, symbolism, emotion, form

METHODS AND PROCESSES

Works across sculpture and painting, combining cultural symbols with figurative and expressive approaches. Explores light and form as carriers of narrative and feeling.

Mediums

PRIMARY

Painting

SECONDARY

Sculpting

DEGREES

1981
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

TEACHING ON DISTRICT1795

5.0
2 classes
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