Nadia Ayari

Born 1981.

Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York

Nadia Ayari is a Tunisian American painter known for her distinctively textured paintings that balance abstraction and figuration while exploring themes of survival. Her work often negotiates the personal and the political. Employing a set of protagonists inspired by the flora of her native North Africa, she creates compositions that are visual representations of our Anthropocene condition. She renders these scenes in thick, methodically applied oil-paint to give the characters and the plastic space they inhabit substantial skin, making them physically relatable.

Ayari moved to the United States in 2000, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Art History from Boston University and a Master’s degree of Fine Arts in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Nadia Ayari’s work has been shown in several internationally renowned institutions and biennials, including MoMA PS1, New York, US; Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, US; Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakech, Morocco; State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece; American University Museum, DC, US; 12th Cairo Biennial (2010), Cairo, Egypt; 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (2011), Thessaloniki, Greece.

Ayari’s work can be found in many prestigious collections such as the Collection Pinault, Paris, France; the Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon; The X Museum, Beijing, China; The Salamoun Collection, Dubai, UAE; The Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunis, Tunisia; The Scantland Collection, Columbus, Ohio; Fundación Medianoche, Grenada, Spain; Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakesh, Morocco; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece; Saatchi Collection, London, UK.