Nasser Almulhim's Exhibition Highlights The Healing Nature Of Art

When he was a young a boy in high school, Nasser Almulhim suffered from mental health issues. Taking to the paintbrush as a mode of healing, he quickly discovered how art could provide an escape from his past traumas. Today, the Saudi Arabian abstract painter is the latest artist to be snapped up by Tabari Art Space, which will be exhibiting his latest collection, Shadow Work, from February 9 – March 3 at the esteemed DIFC-based gallery.

“For me, Shadow Work is the ultimate truth you are escaping from, confronting, dealing with or, should I say, the darkness that needs to see the light,” Nasser tells MOJEH. “It’s the garden within you that needs to be taken care of, to allow you to see your seeds blossoming.” Comprised of 10 acrylic on canvas works in both large and small scale, Shadow Work was created to represent the materialisation of thoughts and emotions as they pass through the mind. As such, the exhibition is divided into two distinct groups, the first offering up a feeling of weightlessness and pared-back, minimalist compositions, while the second is charged and chaotic, together creating an amalgamation of the fleeting sources of inspiration that the artist encounters in his daily life. “I was inspired by life,” adds Nasser. “The nature, the beauty and ugliness of it, the dark and light, the sun and moon. The things we see every day but don’t pay attention to.”