Artist of the Month: Jad Salman

By: Rasha Hilwi | This Week In Palestine, issue No. 151, November 2010

His recent Parisian work left in me many repercussions, undoubtedly as much discomfort. Difficulty, anxiety, rejection and questions overlap since. First of all, those paintings have something in common. They push to renunciation. But what kind of renunciation is it? The one where we abandon our own construction and representation of reality and history, to truly redefine our own identity. This renunciation to consider the past, define the present, and conceive the future in a whole new way. It is at this price that born clash between the Man and his Space; rehabilitating the first in his second.

In these words, Wadie, French journalist and filmmaker begins his article about Jad Salman’s exhibition “Borders of the Sun 2007.”

Jad Salman was born in Tulkarem in 1983 and has lived in Paris, France since 2008.

He finished his bachelor’s degree in fine arts, specializing in interior design, at Al Najah University - Nablus in 2005. In September 2010, he finished his master’s degree in “Contemporary Art and New Media” from University Paris 8, France.

His first experience with painting and drawing was when he was ten years old. “I scribbled on the back of the books and the notebooks in the school,” says Salman, “In the end of the year the notebooks became sketch books more than writing.”

He still uses the word “scribble” when he paints or draws, which was inspired by looking at his father’s costume design magazines-his father studied fashion design in Egypt. The lines were what captured his attention first, influencing his art choices and studies, exploring the contrasts of colour and lines on the canvas.

Salman moved to Paris after he was selected for the residency, “Cité Internationale des Arts.” Between his residencies in France, Norway, Italy, and workshops in Palestine including First Atelier of Preparation for the International Academy of Art Palestine with the Academy of Art Oslo (2004), in Greece with “Kids Guernica Projects” (2007) and “L’étendue” (2009). He has also had many solo exhibitions, including “Stop” which followed his first art residency in Studio LKV, Trondheim, Norway 2005. The exhibition, “Another Space” was introduced by the network of French cultural centres in Palestine 2006, and the exhibition “Borders of the Sun” was in the “Cité Internationale des Arts.” Salman has also participated in many group exhibitions, such as The Young Artist of the Year by A.M. Qattan Foundation in 2008, Antoine Marin Fair Award Season XIII in France in 2009, the Zhejiang Museum of China in 2010, and a number of other exhibits in Europe, Dubai, USA, Japan, and elsewhere.

Recently, Salman released his new personal website: www.jadsalman.ps Through this space, he shares his recent and past work, as well as some media coverage related to his art.

Reflecting on his recent art work, Salman wrote: “When trying to summarize my artistic approach, time and time again one line of thought keeps on coming back: SPACE. A space which is far away, detached from emptiness, I try to inhabit space through colours, lines, materials and shapes. One layer after another, and I have my painting.”