Shadi Abousada is a painter, installation and video artist whose work explores the complex socio-political reality and absurdity of his cultural milieu. Through symbolic gestures and motifs, Abousada invites playful and surreal elements, as seen in his Bride (2016) painting of a ghostly image of a woman submerged under sea disrupts the viewer’s expectation of a familiar bridal scene. Elsewhere in his Swing paintings, Abousada invites a reflection on the innocence of childhood. Born in Sweida, Syria in 1983 and graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University in 2008. The artist has participated in numerous art fairs with Mark Hachem Gallery, Beirut including Art Basel (2016) and Beirut Art Fair (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017). He has held three solo exhibitions in Beirut and his work has been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions in Syria, Lebanon, the Netherlands and Dubai. The artist currently lives and works in Beirut.
