Nima Arabi

MFA IN VISUAL ARTS, YORK UNIVERSITY, FALL 2020

So Close So Far

Drawing from personal history, Arabi’s art explores Persian mystical traditions, particularly the concept of the reachable, the external (zahir), and the unreachable, the internal (batin). Based on these teachings, his practice seeks to transform the exhibition space and create an experience of unity that brings together the artist, the gallery space, and the viewer, into one Whole.

The work consists of two main segments: traditional drawing (two-dimensional) that includes expressive and observational portrait drawing, and expanded approaches to drawing (three-dimensional paper-based) in the form of geometric sculptures inspired by Persian muqarnas. In both practices, Arabi intends to bring reachable and unreachable into one piece of art.

View the exhibition images below

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Nima Arabi is a visual artist with a focus on observational and expressive self-portrait drawings and also geometric-structured sculptures. Currently based in Toronto, he was born and raised in Iran, where he, as a teenager, became familiar with and interested in Persian mystical poems. Since then, his art has become the exploration, examination, and expressions of the core idea of this mystical view which is the oneness of being. 

Employing paper-based non-exclusive industrial materials, such as packaging cardboard and flooring paper, Nima redefines the function of these materials and revalues them in his artistic process. 

Holding a Master’s degree in the Fine Arts from York University, Nima Arabi has solo exhibition experience in Canada and Iran, participated in group shows in art galleries, such as AGYU and the Varley Art Gallery in Toronto, and given a public presentation at Markham Public Library.

Website: nimaarabi.ca

Instagram: @nima.arabi.artist