Nadim Karam

Born in Senegal in 1957, Nadim Karam is a multidisciplinary artist known for landmark urban design and cutting-edge painting and sculpture. A prominent figure in the Lebanese art scene, he attended the American University of Beirut and received graduate and postgraduate degrees from the University of Tokyo, Japan.

In 1996, he established Atelier Hapsitus in Beirut, a studio that the artist defines as “the satellite grouping of young architects and designers around happenings and situations.”

Individually, Karam has exhibited in galleries, institutions and art fairs worldwide, contributing to such notable events as the Liverpool Biennial, the Venice Biennial, the Gwangju Biennial in South Korea and SCOPE Art Fair (Basel). With a collector-base across the globe, his work is housed in corporations and cultural foundations in the Arab world, Europe and Asia.

Recently, Karam’s architectural plan “The Cloud” made international headlines for its revolutionary ideas of how to reconfigure public space amidst Dubai’s growing cityscape. Initially submitted to the International Design Forum in Dubai in 2007, the concept outlined a massive public entertainment complex containing floating gardens, a lake, restaurants, a palace and a museum suspended in the air by rain-like stilts and covered with artificial condensation.

The whimsical character of “The Cloud” and its intended impact on everyday interactions and culture reflects the fundamental principles of Karam’s art. With a distinctly international vision his paintings and sculptures draw heavily on his diverse background, transcending social, political and national borders and captivating the viewer with the childlike freedom and depth of his imagination.