Rafat Asad

Rafat Asad was born in Nablus in 1974 and was awarded a bachelor’s degree in fine art from Al Najah University in 1998. Although he is a multi-disciplinary artist- producing sound and light installations, video, and performances- Asad describes himself as a painter first and foremost. Starting as an abstract painter, his work has evolved to focus on the Palestinian Landscape. This made his recent work unique, brilliant, and somewhat “reductionist” in style. He has participated in group exhibitions in Palestine, Europe, Japan, the US, and the Arab world. Asad’s works have been shown in three Solo Exhibitions at a variety of venues, including Nablus (1999), Ramallah (2006), And London (2006).

Rafat’s paintings are deceptive in their apparent celebration of light and air, the colors of the seasons, the patterns of the fields, the gentle slopes of the hills, and the edge lands where town meets field; they hide more than they reveal. They are not painted en plein air as Van Gogh did, and if the separation wall is visible in any of these actual views, the artist has not included it. They are an amalgam of the artist’s imagination and memory with the art of painting and the illusionary but liberating space it can so brilliantly create.