NAZiR TANBOULi

Nazir Tanbouli is a British Egyptian artist, born 1971 in a family of painters and Egyptologists, with whom he began working at the tender age of two. His paintings reveal faint traces of ancient motifs, deeply embedded with fundamental sources of color, symbol and dimensions, combined with familiar and recognizable elements of the everyday present.

Tanbouli studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Alexandria from 1989 to 1994 where he received his bachelor’s in expressive arts, before moving to Nottingham in the United Kingdom in 2002, where he was active as an artist and art educator and started exhibiting his work around Europe at that time. In 2007, he moved to London and received a master of fine arts in printmaking from Camberwell College of Arts, focusing on screen printing and book art. In 2013, he studied ceramics at Chelsea School of Art. He also founded an artist-run space called Studio 75, a hub for the local community and a place to encourage artists from all over the world to exhibit and collaborate.

For some time, his mainly focused on mural painting, but doesn’t identify as a street artist; he is a painter and a muralist. Tanbouli is interested in symbolism, iconography, zen calligraphy and shamanic practices. He was awarded the 1993 Grand Drawing Prize at the National Salon of Youth, Egypt and participated in Cairo Biennale and many other exhibitions in Egypt and abroad. Tanbouli currently lives and works in London.

Acrylic

286 x 36 x 20 cm

Images courtesy of the artist

Acrylic

235 x 31 x 15 cm

Acrylic

210 x 55 x 23 cm