Lot 38 Nazir Tanbouli
Nazir Tanbouli (Egyptian, born 1971)
Visitation, 2019Signed ‘signature’ 19 (lower middle)
Acrylic on canvas
119.5 x 100 cm
Ksh 410,000 – 550,000
(US$) $3,750 – 5,000
Provenance: Direct from the artist
Sold Ksh 434,380
Tanbouli is an Egyptian contemporary artist working in paint, drawing, illustration, murals and performance. His work is often light-hearted, inspired by his interactions with the people around him and his travels around the world. Combining historical influences from Egyptian and North African artistic traditions with imagery of contemporary life and references to street art, Tanbouli’s work is narrative, biographical, communicative and often humorous. Both the characters and places in his art are dream-like renderings of people he’s known and the many places he has travelled to. His works often contain global themes and symbols that make them both non-culturally specific and widely appealing.
Tanbouli studied art and design at Alexandria University between 1989 and 1994, and worked as a painter, muralist, illustrator and graphic designer before moving to the UK in 2002 where he still lives. In 2010 he was awarded an MFA from Camberwell College of Arts, the University of the Arts London, where he studied book art and printmaking. He was awarded, from the same university, the Creative Enterprise Award in 2012 for founding and running an artist run space STUDO75-LONDON. Since 2015 he has worked frequently in Alexandria.