Mehdi Moutashar French-Iraqi, b. 1943

Overview
Mehdi Moutashar, Deux carrés dont un encadré (Two squares, one of them framed), 2017, Wood, paint, elastic wire. One of the four minimalist geometric artworks part of Moutashar's Jameel Prize 5 presentation. Courtesy the Artist, V&A London and Art Jameel. Photo © Fabrice Leroux
Mehdi Moutashar, Deux carrés dont un encadré (Two squares, one of them framed), 2017, Wood, paint, elastic wire. One of the four minimalist geometric artworks part of Moutashar's Jameel Prize 5 presentation. Courtesy the Artist, V&A London and Art Jameel. Photo © Fabrice Leroux

Mehdi Moutashar’s art lies at the confluence of two artistic traditions, the western heritage of geometric abstraction and the Islamic aesthetic tradition of geometrical order and lines. His art is a radical, geometrical abstraction with figures that are never enclosed inside the limits of a contour but open, fragmentary and constantly shifting.

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Biography
Mehdi Moutashar, Paris, 1969
Mehdi Moutashar, Paris, 1969

Born in the city of Hilla in central Iraq, close to the ancient city of Babylon, Mehdi Moutashar graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad, Iraq in 1966 and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France in 1970.

 

Moutashar’s extensive solo exhibitions include: Introspection as Resistance, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2023/2024); Frieze Spotlight with Lawrie Shabibi (2023); TRAME at Abbaye de Cluny, France (2022); Mehdi Moutashar: Cardinal Points, Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai, (2021); Abu Dhabi Art Fair with Lawrie Shabibi, Abu Dhabi (2021); Racines carrées, AL/MA Gallery, Montpellier (2021); Abbaye de Cluny, France (2021); Hoffmann Gallery, Friedberg, (2019); Measuring Space, National Theatre & Albareh Gallery, Bahrain (2017); Victor Sfez Gallery, Paris (2016); AL/MA Gallery, Montpellier (2016); Le Petit Temple Gallery, Lasalle (2014); Linde Hollinger Gallery, Ladenburg (2013); AL/MA Gallery, Montpellier (2012), and Kleine Museum, Weissenstadt (2011), amongst others.

 

He has participated in numerous group shows including Islamic Arts Biennale, Jeddah (2025); Arab Presences, Modern Art and Decolonisation (Paris 1908-1988), Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, (2024); As by chance!, Museum of Art and History of Cholet (2023); Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto Of Fragility, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha (2023); Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility at the 16th Lyon Biennale, macLYON, Lyon (2022); Art Dubai with Lawrie Shabibi (2022); Small is beautiful!, Galerie Denise René, Paris (2021); Structure du Silence, Galerie Denise René, Paris (2021); Espace Oblique, Galerie Denise René, Paris (2018); Bagdad Mon Amour, Institut des Cultures d'Islam, Paris (2018); Au-delà de la forme: Richard Serra / Mehdi Moutashar, Palais du Tau, Reims (2016); Hommage au Carré noir de Malevitch, Musée Vasarely, Budapest (2015); Galerie Deleuze-Rochetin, Arpaillargues (2011); and François Morellet et Mehdi Moutashar, Institut des Cultures de l’Islam, Paris (2010).

 

His work is held in collections worldwide, including Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia; Qatar Museums; Fonds Régional Art Contemporain Provence Alpes, Côte d’Azur; Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Kleine Museum, Weissenstadt, Germany; Montbéliard Museum, France; Conseil général des Bouches-du-Rhône, France; Klingspor Museum der Stadt, Offenbach, Germany; Fine Arts Museum, Cholet, France; Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris; National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Modern Art Museum, Tunis; and National Modern Art Museum, Bagdad, Iraq.

 

In 2018 he won the prestigious Jameel Prize 5 at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) London, sharing the accolade with Marina Tabassum, an architect from Bangladesh. Moutashar received the award for his bold work of minimalist abstraction rooted in Islamic geometry - exhibited as part of the finalists’ group show at the V&A (2018), followed by a second iteration at Jameel Art Center, Dubai (2019).

 

His first permanent public artwork Aspire House was commissioned for Aspire Park by Qatar Museums in 2024.

 

Moutashar is a former professor at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1974-2008. He lives and works in Arles, France.

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