Opening of the exhibition “Journal of Times | Journal of Present Times” by Nadim Karam and curated by Nayla Tamraz

Like a great registry of present times, Nadim Karam’s work records his time, particularly the last 30 years of lived experience and history. The 2006 war, the displacement of populations in the Middle East, the context of confinement and the catastrophic explosion at Beirut’s port all have their place. The large triptych panel entitled Massacre (mixed media on canvas, 200 x 360 cm, 2009) is of central importance. Violence and the weight of history, ruins, roots and exile are themes that run through this polymorphous work, evoked through the supports and formats that it uses, as much as by the mediums, materials and techniques through which it takes shape and the characters and stories that it generates. It is the fluidity of these figures which migrate in a continuous flow from his sketchbooks to the public space, passing through multiple avatars, that this exhibition, in 5 sections retracing Karam’s trajectory, invites us to contemplate.

This story is also that of the 30 years of frenetic output through the atypical career of Nadim Karam. Atypical, because the language that Nadim Karam has developed over these years is not a conceptual language, where theory remains important, nor a material language in the sense that his research and experiments, however material they may be, do not seek to question the medium or resolve an aesthetic question.  The visual objects that Karam creates are intended for public space, even if they originate in the exercise of drawing. To understand them, we must first become familiar with the things that happen in this space, the issues that underlie what we call “art in the public space”, and we must also start by wanting to defend the idea of art in public space and to recognise that it has an artistic status. It is indeed within this shift from the dominant conceptual trends of contemporary art that Karam’s creativity unfolds. This gap defines him as a free agent in relation to the expectations of the art world of his time.

Nadim Karam’s work does not call into question the world order it describes, although it does not fail to be controversial, undoubtedly because it gives rise to fundamental questions of a political, ethical, aesthetic and institutional nature. Exhibiting this work also means committing to highlight the debates it has sparked.
Nadim Karam declared: “Sketching is a therapy that takes me away from the daily hassles of the world and throws me into the infinite vastness of empty white pages waiting to be filled, connecting me to my inner self and beyond’’.
The curator Nayla Tamraz said: ‘‘Like a great registry of present times, Nadim Karam’s work records his time’’.

About Nadim Karam
Nadim Karam is a contemporary artist who creates narratives engaging with cities and contexts through his works. His site-specific projects engage in re-examining contextual issues and enhancing perceptions of diversity within society, taking a playful and often absurdist approach even when addressing the most critical issues. During his doctoral studies in concepts of eastern space Japan, he developed a language of forms relating to spaces, memories and peoples through his performance art projects. Later, his public art projects emerged as a natural synthesis of his architectural affinity for urban contexts and his auto-didactic artistic output of drawings, paintings and sculptures. With his multi-disciplinary practice, Nadim Karam Studio (NKS), Karam has realised numerous major site-specific public art projects around the world, commissioned by cities and institutions. His paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in galleries, biennales, institutions and museums, and four monographs on his work have been published by Booth-Clibborn Editions in London. He lives and works in Beirut and Rotterdam.