ILLUSION
Halim Al Karim
PRESS RELEASE
41 rue Mazarine, 75006 Paris, France • +33 1 46 33 13 13 • contact@imanefares.com • www.imanefares.com
Ouverture du mardi au samedi de 11h à 19h • Parkings Mazarine et Saint-Germain • Métro Odéon
ILLUSION
Halim Al Karim
From September 25 until December 20, 2014
Opening Septembre 25 at 6 pm, in the presence of the artist
As if it were impossible to determine one way or another, Halim Al Karim’s photographs are both free and
subdued. Not because of any indecision, but through an intense desire for openness. Indeed this man
in movement, born in 1963 in Najaf (Iraq), attempts to draw a bridge between his own solitude and the
constant noise of the world.
Thus, his latest series, Illusion (2013), is haunted by women and the mirages-faces he is known for. Like
mermaid’s singing, they pay hommage to The Lady of Warka which he glimpsed at in the Museum of Fine
Arts in Baghdad as a child. She had smiled to him, an unexpected gift. He shied away then, just as he likes
to eclipse himself today, working at antipodes, in Dubaï (UEA) and Denver (Colorado, USA), entirely
devoted to this medium with an extensible chemistry that copies his thoughts into images, practically to
the letter. Life as a fluid, and photography too.
Ceaselessly, Halim Al Karim unravels the hypothesis of continuous time in a space bordered by easily
crossed frontiers, sometimes using a false identity. Without losing face, but his youth. Is this a game? Or
rather an attempt to capture a new dimension within these troubled lands, one that would not be too
close or too distant, just like when you look through a camera lens. A trap for tricks, delights or artifices? In
substance, the artist responds that he can do what he likes. He has built a camera which is larger than life,
a kind of mobile machine straight out of Brobdingnag, capable of recording his most intimate resolutions.
The idea was to travel to the past while protecting yourself from the present, and then evoke the present
to put the past back in its place, however bloody. Here photography is like a tool to conjure up memories
thanks to the technique of wet collodion, utilised in the nineteenth century: difficult to believe, but he did…
Brigitte Ollier
------------------------------------------------------Artist statement
“ In fact there is nothing left to talk about, except that since the beginning of the formation of my consciousness,
it was clear to me that my presence in this brutal life will not last long.
So from the beginning, I have been trying to hide and escape from the monsters in this life to another universe
in order not to turn to a monster like them, and live my dreams. “
Halim Al Karim
« When truth becomes illusion and illusion becomes truth. The
Illusion series expresses my faith in the truth of my existence in
another universe »
Halim Al Karim , 2013
Illusion 2, 2013. 75 x 165 cm, photograph, wet plate collodion on aluminium
Unique piece
Courtesy of the artist and Imane Farès
Illusion 9, 2013. 80 x 60 cm, photograph, wet plate collodion on aluminium
Unique piece
Courtesy of the artist and Imane Farès
Illusion 8, 2013. 80 x 60 cm, photograph, wet plate collodion on aluminium
Unique piece
Courtesy of the artist and Imane Farès
« Through White Ash series, I share my perception of the potential of
some humanity in the absence and separation from reality to escape
the brutality of this life »
Halim Al Karim , 2013
White Ash 2, 2013. 140 x 80 cm, pigmentary ink jet print
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
Courtesy of the artist and Imane Farès
White Ash 4, 2013. 220 x 120 cm, pigmentary ink jet print
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
Courtesy of the artist and Imane Farès
White Ash 7, 2013. 220 x 120 cm, pigmentary ink jet print
Edition of 3 + 2 AP
Courtesy of the artist and Imane Farès
Halim Al Karim
Photography
Born in 1963 in Najaf, Iraq. Works and lives in between Denver and Dubai.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2001
2000
1999
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
Halim Al Karim, Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, France
The global contemporary art worlds after 1989, AB Gallery,
Karlshruhe, Germany
XVA Gallery, Dubai, U.A.E
NYU Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
Witness from Baghdad, Stux Gallery, New York, U.S.A
Robischon Gallery, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A
Dar Al Funoon Gallery, Koweit City, Koweit
Witness From Baghdad, Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan
Galerie XVA, Dubai, U.A.E
Robischon Gallery, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A
Dar Al Funoon Gallery, Koweit City, Koweit
XVA Gallery, Dubai, U.A.E
Museum of Contemporary Art of Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A
XVA Gallery, Dubai, U.A.E
Robischon Gallery, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A
Gallery of Fine Arts Gremillion & Co., Houston, U.S.A
XVA Gallery, Dubai, U.A.E
Espace SD, Beirut, Lebanon
Robischon Gallery, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A
Saifi Village-Quartier des Arts, Beirut, Lebanon
Four Walls Gallery, Amman, Jordan
National Museum of Ceramics of Princessehof, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Fibeitt Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Pictura Gallery, Dordrecht, The Netherlands
L’Entretemps Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Parterre Gallery, Sommelsdijk, The Netherlands
L’Entretemps Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
50 x 70 Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Schauer Gallery, Paris, France
French Cultural Center, Amman, Jordan
GROUP EXHIBITIONS – SELECTION
2014
2013
2012
2011
Art Basel Hong Kong, XVA Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Art Brussels, Imane Fares Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Art Dubai, Imane Fares Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Women, Side by Side Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Art 14 London, Art Space Gallery, London, UK
Secrets of the Store, AB Gallery, Luzern, Switzerland
Collections, Collection, de l’oeuvre au livre, Le 7.5.Club, Paris
ART DUBAI : Halim Al Karim
ART PARIS : Halim Al Karim, Galerie Imane Farès, Paris
Beirut Art Fair ME.NA.SA.ART, Dar Al Funoon Gallery, Koweit City, Koweit
54th Venice Biennale Iraqi Pavilion, Venice, Italy
Art Abu Dhabi, AB gallery, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
AB Gallery, Kunst Zurich, Switzerland
SCOPE Art Fair, AB Gallery, Bâle, Switzerland
Art in Iraq today – part 5, Meem gallery, Dubai, U.A.E
2010
2009
Images affranchies, exhibition organized by Brahim Alaoui, Marrakech Art Fair 2, Morocco
1 an déjà !, Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, France
Saatchi Gallery, London, The United Kingdom
See the Light, Louis Vuitton Hong Kong Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Al Ghaib (The Disappearance), contemporary Art Space, Maraya Al Qasba, Sharjah, U.A.E
The Sate: Uppers and Downers, Farrok Collection, Traffic Gallery, Dubai, U.A.E
Nujoom: Constellations of Arab Art from the Farjam Collection, Dubai, U.A.E
ZOOM Contemporary Art Fair, Robischon Gallery, Colorado, U.S.A
Peripheral Vision, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, U.A.E
Red Line Gallery par Robischon Gallery, Denver, U.S.A
Milan art fair, Milan, Italy
Bastakiya Art Fair, Dubai, U.A.E
Peripheral Vision, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, U.A.E
Aspen Art, Colorado, U.S.A
Behind the Mask, The New Art Gallery, Walsall, The United Kingdom
Tracé de voyage, Galerie Imane Farès, Paris, France
Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East, Saatchi Gallery, London, The United Kingdom
Bastakiya Art Fair, Dubai, U.A.E
Across Borders N°2, Radical Gallery, Zoug, Switzerland
Paul Klee Museum, Berne, Switzerland
Crossings Traversées, Rabat, Morocco
Hong Kong International Art Fair, Hong Kong, China
Arti Campi Gallery, Verona, Italy
Art Abu Dhabi, U.A.E
AWARDS
2010
2003
2001
1998
Sovereign Art Prize Hong Kong, China
Sursock Museum prize – Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon
Jury Prize for painting – International Cairo Biennale, Cairo, Egypt
Ceramics Special Mention – Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon
PUBLICATIONS
Monograph
Nadine Descendre, Hidden Self-Portrait, Editions Skira, 2012
Catalogues
Dia al-Azzawi, Charles Pocock, Art in Iraq Today, Skira, 2011
Hossein Amirsadeghi, Salwa Mikdadi, Nada M. Shabout, New Vision: Arab Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2009
Exhibition catalogues
Gaia Serena Simionati, Jean-Pierre Govanelli, Yvonne De Rosa, Al-Ghaib: Aesthetics of the Disappearance, Silvana Editoriale, 2011
Crossings, Traversées, exhibition catalogue, Brahim Alaoui, 2009
Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East, Saatchi Gallery, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2009
COLLECTIONS
Artron Art Museum, China
Yinchaun MoCA, China
Museum of Contemporary Art, Mexico City
Arab Museum of Contemporary Art, Doha, Qatar
Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, U.A.E
Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan
Farjam Foundation, Dubai, U.A.E
The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, Texas, U.S.A
Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), Paris, France
Royal Association of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan
Saatchi Gallery, London, The United Kingdom
Sovereign Art Foundation, Hong Kong
Sursock Museum, Beirut, Lebanon
Victoria et Albert Museum, London, The United Kingdom
Weng Art Foundation, Krefeld, Germany
For more informations, please feel free to contact us
raissa.khochman@imanefares.com – Tel.: + 33 1 46 33 13 13
41 rue Mazarine, 75006 Paris, France • +33 1 46 33 13 13 • contact@imanefares.com • www.imanefares.com
Ouverture du mardi au samedi de 11h à 19h • Parkings Mazarine et Saint-Germain • Métro Odéon