YOUSEF AHMAD

Untitled, 175 x 175 cm, handmade palm leaf paper and mixed media on canvas, 2009

Yousef Ahmad was born in , in 1955. In 1976, he graduated with a BA in fine arts and education from Helwan University in Cairo. He then moved to the United States to study for his Master’s degree in fine arts, gaining exposure to in- ternational art movements and learning the most advanced professional lithographic and typographical techniques. Mastering these techniques and this new body of knowledge motivated him to explore the potential of and to develop new forms and interpretations of the letter shapes.

In March 1977, Yousef became the first Qatari to stage a solo exhibition in Doha. His show focused on the Hurufiyah style of contemporary calligraphy, and it was praised as a breakthrough in artistic expression in Qatar. Since then, Yousef has been seen as a pioneer in the development of modern Arabic art forms.

Over time, Yousef’s work has undergone a gradual evolution. From traditional forms of calligraphy, his work first entered a stage where his use of Arabic letters became independent of embellishment, at times forming an Islamic architectural component and at others a pure abstract. In the next phase, his characters became an absolute abstract, drawing on the unique form and flexibility of Arabic letters to express cultural and national emotions. Recently, he has turned his attention from the letters themselves to the materiality of his media: over the past few years, he has worked extensively on creating new substances to use in his paintings and developing new forms of paper. In his endless search for the “pleasure of the surface”, Yousef creates his works from the raw materials that he generates from palm fronds. He feels that focusing on the palm, which is such a common tree in Qatar, can remind viewers of the importance of daily life and the richness of its undulations. Through his calligraphic work, he leads viewers to an oasis shaded by palms trees where they can taste the ecstasy of meditation. The palms make a surface so rich that viewers can lose their way in the warmth and gradation of the colors and feel what the tones represent to the human soul. Through abstraction, he emancipates the Arabic letter from the burden of linguistic meaning and transforms it into an aesthetic object that can be understood without reading. GALERIE KASHYA HILDEBRAND Talstrasse 58 8001 Zurich Switzerland +41 44 210 02 02 [email protected] www.kashyahildebrand.org YOUSEF AHMAD born in Doha, Qatar in 1955 lives and works in Doha, Qatar

EDUCATION

1975 BA in Arts and Education, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt 1982 MFA, Painting Mills College, Oakland, California, USA

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011 Made in Qatar, Qatar International Exhibition Centre, Doha, Qatar 2010 Qatar International Exhibition Center, Doha, Qatar 2007 The Movement, Doha, Qatar (Exhibition to mark the 30th anniversary of Yousef Ahmad‘s first solo exhibition in Qatar) 2004 VCU University Gallery, Qatar, Doha, Qatar 2003 Ahmad Al Adwani Gallery, KNC, Kuwait French Cultural Centre, Doha, Qatar 2000 Qatar Association of Plastic Arts, Doha, Qatar 1994 Gandhir Gallery, Kuwait 1983 Al Khalij Hotel, Doha, Qatar 1977 National Museum, Doha, Qatar

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

2011 Sawalif, Contemporary Qatari Art, Doha, Qatar Contemporary Qatari Art, Dominican Republic 2010 Kuwait Biennale, Kuwait The 18th Seoul International Art Festival Korea – MidEast “PEACE”, Seoul, Korea 14th Asian Art Biennale, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2009 New Territories, Bait Muzna Gallery, Muscat, Oman Signs: Contemporary Arab Art, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York, USA 2008 Istanbul Sculptures Symposium, Istanbul, Turkey 2007 Galeria Metropolitana, Barcelona, Spain 2006 Al Kharafi Biennial for Contemporary Arab Art, Kuwait Exhibitions of Qatari Plastic Arts, Association, Doha, Qatar Language of Desert, Arab World Institute, Paris, France 2005 Language of Desert, Bonn Museum for Modern Art, Germany Al Majlis Hall, Dubai 2000 Tehran First International Biennial of Islamic Arts, Tehran, Iran Exhibition of the Arabian Peninsula Artists, Amman, Jordan 1999 Bangladesh Seventh Contemporary Asian Art Exhibition, Dhaka, Bangladesh Fifth Periodic Exhibition of Plastic Arts and Calligraphy, Doha, Qatar Sharjah Fourth Biennial, Sharjah, UAE 1998 New Delhi Triennial, Delhi, Seventh Cairo Biennial, Cairo, Egypt 1996 Sixth Cairo Biennial, Cairo, Egypt 1994 Fifth Cairo Biennial, Cairo, Egypt Dhaka Biannual Exhibitions for Contemporary Asian Art, Dhaka, Bangladesh First GCC State‘s Friends of the Plastic Arts Exhibition, Kuwait 1992 Fourth Cairo Biennial, Cairo, Egypt Honour Guest at Sharjah First Biennial, Sharjah, UAE 1990 Ankara Third International, Euro-Asian Art Exhibition 1989 Norway World Engraving Triennial First Exhibition of GCC Artists, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia GALERIE KASHYA HILDEBRAND Talstrasse 58 8001 Zurich Switzerland +41 44 210 02 02 [email protected] www.kashyahildebrand.org