ABDULRAHIM SHARIF

One of Bahrain’s foremost artists is Abdul Rahim Sharif, whose paintings have expressed such themes as alienation, indifference, hardship, introversion and emotional disconnection using vibrant colors.

Born in 1954 in Manama, Sharif has also lived in New York. Considered by Christie’s as one of their leading artists, Sharif’s paintings are a mixture of vibrancy and despondency; he often creates an underlay of vivid hues that bleed through surfaces of muted and diluted natural tones. This technique creates an unstable undercurrent of color, form and texture.

His work has been exhibited in the Middle East, Europe and Asia, including solo exhibitions in Bahrain, New York, Sydney and Paris. A founding member of the Bahrain Arts Society, Sharif completed a Masters of Fine Arts at New York’s Parsons School of Design in 1978.

In his works, artist Abdulrahim Sharif separates the literal notion of who he is as a person and that metaphorical being of existence through intangible senses. 

Through profound visual work, skillful techniques and pushing the storytelling limits of art itself, Sharif expresses what is in his heart of hearts through painting: his ideas about the world, about  the secrets that rise from the ashes of darkness and the truths he discovers in ordinary humanity. 

All of his ideas, stubborn and intimate, float to the surface through his artworks.