Artist Statement
Biography:
I spent the first 30 years of my life in Alexandria, Egypt where I was taught to paint and draw by my uncle, Egyptian painter Ibrahim Tanbouli, from the tender age of 2 years old.
I started formal education in art and design in 1989 for 5 years. I studied many things which I've rarely practised, such as interior design, theatrical scenography and costume design; yet they all helped to shape my work as painter and draftsman.
Over the last 10 years, I work principally in Drawing, Painting and Mural art.
I moved from Alexandria to the UK in 2002. I completed an MA in Fine Art Printmaking at Camberwell College of Arts, London, focusing on screen printing and book art.
Artist statement:
If you are looking for a conceptual artist I'm not the man you are looking for.
My work comes through an eastern awareness of the artistic process as a process focused on inward examination and inward development, on art as a “personal philosophical territory.”
Therefore I'm interested in Jung's notion of archetypes and collective unconscious, as I find this to be the pathway to creating artwork that communicates to an international, cosmopolitan audience
I often find my inspiration within narrative literature. Jonah inside the whale becomes Estragon waiting for Godot, and they are the man in my painting, who is a representation of both me and you.
Visit my website: http://www.nazirtanbouli.com
My blog on http://nazirtanbouli.wordpress.com/
CV & Education
Public realm
2012 - The King's Land, Studio75 / Kingsland Estate, London
2011 - Haggerston Public Mural, Studio75 at Whiston Road, London
2007 - Song for the Ghetto, Hyson Green (Public mural), New Art Exchange, Nottingham
Qualifications and training
2010 - MA Fine Art Printmaking, Camberwell College of Art, London
1994 - BFA Expressive Arts; Five Year Fulltime Fine Art Degree Course, Alexandria Academy of Fine Arts, Egypt
Solo exhibitions
2013 - Orientophobia, Hackney Downs Studios, The Russett, Dalston, London
2011 - Eye Candy, Studio75, London E2
2010 - "Baptism of Hailstones", Surface Gallery, Nottingham
2008 - “Who am I to tell my private nightmares to if I can't tell them to you?”, Red Gate Gallery, London
2008 - CONSTRUCTED MYTHOLOGIES, Milton Keynes Contemporary, Milton Keynes
2005 - "Nazir Tanbouli", Factory-Berlin, Edisonstrasse 61, Berlin
2005 - 3 Films by Nazir Tanbouli, The Collection, Usher Gallery, Lincoln
2005 - Large-Scale-Drawings, DeMontfort hall, Leicester
Group exhibitions
2011 - BIBLIOTHEKA: A PUBLIC LIBRARY, STUDIO 75, London
2011 - PROSPERO'S LIBRARY, STUDIO 75, London
2010 - 7 Men in London Town, Redgate Gallery, London
2010 - THE FREAKS, SHOREDITCH TOWN HALL, LONDON
2009 - "Beyond Borders: London and New York", AEStudios Gallery, New York City
2009 - "Tales from the Electric Forest" , St Pancras Crypt Gallery, London
2009 - “Prospero's Library”, Accademia di Belle Arte, Catania, Italia
2008 - Postindustrial Baroque, Globe Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
2007 - COLDSTORE, Kühlhaus am Gleisdreieck, Luckenwalderstr. 3, Berlin Kreuzberg
2006 - Transpositions, The Works gallery, Birmingham
2005 - Urban Clearance, PS2, Belfast
Residencies
2006 - Juliet Gomperts Award, Verrochio Art Centre, Casole d'Elsa, Italy
Competitions, prizes and awards
2010 - Bainbridge Award, Camberwell College of Art, London
