Last Wednesday Oasis500 launched its new investment track, the “Creative Industries Fund”, which will support and invest in artistic and cultural entrepreneurship.
Many great artists from Jordan, participated and helped us celebrate this special event by showcasing their best artwork in various fields such as drawing, film making, painting, illustration, graffiti arts and photography, in an exhibition that was attended by her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah.
Below is a list of the participating artists along with their bios and a few photos from the exhibition.
Ayman Namrouqa
Born in 1977 in Amman, Jordan, Ayman Namrouqa studied Managerial Works and worked in the business sector. His inner voice and passion for art kept driving him through the brilliance of colors, impressions, vibrancy of nature’s textures and materials, and how everything is beautifully connected within our universe.
Namrouqa began pursuing his dreams by translating his emotions and inspiration into art form. Using different colored based materials and mixed media; he began to display some of his art on an individual basis.
Today, Namrouqa is devoting his time to his art, bringing you his first solo art exhibition, Spaces beyond Earth, which chronicles his experience in encountering and interacting with nature.
AlWajd AlFayez
AlWajd AlFayez is the Founder & Film Director of Mugshot Productions, a Jordan-based boutique production house that specializes in film production and visual storytelling. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Film directing and Scriptwriting from the University of Kent and Kingston University in the UK. After finishing her studies, she decided to expand her filmmaking skills by traveling and taking courses in Paris and London. She moved back and forth between Amman, Beirut and Cairo and has worked on several films, music videos and TV commercials. AlWajd is currently writing her first feature film.
Bashar Tabbah
A landscape and architectural photographer, Bashar Tabbah has travelled the world in search of historical treasures. In 2013, Bashar began a project to photograph and research all of Jordan’s historical and religious sites. Dubbed “A Map and a Lens,” the project culminated in a three-week photo-exhibition in the capital, Amman. He is working hard to transform his project into a book.
Farah Asmar
Farah Al Asmar studied graphic and fashion design at Istituto Marangoni in London. She has worked with a handbag designer, fashion magazines, TV shows and is an ex partner of Love and Label. Inspired by art, culture, fashion, architecture, and technology, Al Asmar has managed to launch a handbag line under the name of Farah Asmar. This line uses plentiful leathers and trend avowal hardware; it collaborates with jewelry and interior designers, while keeping in mind altered tastes, age groups and market diversities. Having the passion and expertise in small fashion businesses and publishing has allowed the designer to be where she is today, entering the fashion world strongly and competing with upcoming brands.
Farah Hourani
Farah Hourani’s style is never aligned with the norm or the season; her creative process starts with unusual fabrics and elements that trigger a design in her head, which are later transformed into reality, forming unexpected organic yet edgy multi-dimensional creations. Born in 1991 in Amman, Jordan, Farah’s family – gallery owners and art collectors since 1990 – unleashed her artistic and creative senses and provided her with space for play. She attended the London College of Fashion at the age of 17, where she enrolled in fashion, photography and styling courses. Soon after, she enrolled in ESMOD Beirut, where she studied ready-to-wear pattern-making in shirts, skirts and dresses. Her first solo fashion show was held while studying in the UK in 2010 at Jalouse Club- London. After moving back to Amman, she was approached by the Editor in Chief of U Magazine, Shirene Al Rifai, to create a Jordanian- inspired fashion collection which was featured as their October 2010 cover shoot for Swatch. In 2013 Farah participated in LA Fashion Week showcasing her “Triumvirati” collection; and was part of Extrajordinary Ramadan event where she was introduced as the youngest Jordanian entrepreneur. Hourani Co-founded Wearthetrend.com –A visual platform that is all about bright personalities and luminous minds that extend from the fashion industry and music to film, art and design fields; translating trends into their own exclusive stories and editorials in collaboration with fresh emerging and prominent talents- and collaborated with BMW Jordan in organizing and co-hosting a series of VIP launch trend parties at their premises. Farah was recently featured on the Face Hunter, CoolLiving, and Style.com; interviewed by U Magazine Jordan & Lebanon; Television appearances include MTV, LBC & Jo TV. Her Fashion line and accessories were sold in various boutiques such as Label Queen, Kulte and Cream in Beirut; Pink Dust, Stone and Sketch boutiques in Amman.
Kais Karadsheh
Kais Karadsheh is in his thirties and is a handcraft designer specializing in recycled materials. He graduated from Amman Ahliyyeh University with a Bachelor’s in Marketing, but his real passion is in design and art craft. Karadsheh started designing and drawing from a young age and most of his design skills and knowledge are self-taught.
Inspired by his great passion for environment, Karadsheh started a business and an art with recycled pieces, which contribute to a large portion of his collection. Using objects like expired magazines, wheels, wires and bottles, he has the ability to work with anything that he comes across. In addition to his recycled home decorative items and ladies accessories, Karadsheh has other lines that consist of mosaic mirrors, frames and Christmas ornaments.
Beauty in its most simplistic forms is what Karadsheh aims to portray through his art. He believes that an artist’s role in life is not only to showcase his art, but also to promote a better and healthier environment, and raise awareness whenever one has the chance.
Mike V. Derderian
Mike V. Derderian is a writer, illustrator and self-proclaimed detective. He worked as journalist for The Star Weekly covering stories from politics, local news, art and cinema. He launched WAW Al Balad with Al Balad Theatre. Dederian has served as the art director for Mlabbas and is currently a DJ and newsreader at Radio Jordan 96.3 FM. He is also working as a t-shirt designer and street artist who goes by the name “Sardine.”
Onur Lambaz
Onur Lambaz, born in 1982, graduated with a B.A in Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Technology from the University of Jordan. She worked for five years with Khalid Nahhas in Symbiosis Designs Ltd., as well as at ALDARAH ARCHITECTS for one year. She is currently working the on the “Hangit Project.”
Project Pen
The idea behind Project Pen is simple: to create new kinds of stories for a new kind of readership based around the work of a new generation of writers.
Project Pen is a creative commons and copyright publisher supporting the work of artists and writers out of the Middle East in Arabic and English. It was founded in 2012 by John Lillywhite and Maisa Khudair.
Since its inception, Project Pen has held three story labs that resulted in the publishing of three groundbreaking e-Books in addition to a widely popular Twitter Stories contest that placed many aspiring writers under the local and regional limelight.
Randa Haddadin
Randa Haddadin, born in 1985 in Russia, is an architect and growing self-taught visual artist living and working in Jordan. Haddadin obtained her B.A. in Architecture from the University of Jordan in 2009. She is an architect at Masiam Architects & Engineers.
Randa’s work is inspired by personal experiences and the stories of people around her through time, conveying the deep struggles hidden in the attics of the mind, heart and soul, portraying that placeless space within, and through experimental and traditional techniques with the use of basic and raw materials. Her work has been featured in many magazines and articles locally and internationally, and is part of collective exhibitions in Amman and New York.
Rawan Kakish
Born in 1983, Rawan Kakish is an architect and established visual artist who graduated with a B.A. in Architecture and Design from the Jordan University of Science and Technology in 2006.
Kakish took off on a journey of self-discovery and development, exploring all aspects of her creative abilities. In the years since her graduation she has undertaken various projects, both architectural and artistic, in an effort to nurture and extend her capabilities. In 2008, Kakish enrolled at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) at New York University (NYU) in New York City, where she attended a number of courses: drawing, sculpture, collage, printmaking and animation. She currently resides and works in Kuwait.
Her art is about people, city, expressions, her engagement with the public, interacting with her fellow humans and listening to social contemporary reality. Rawan uses a combination of raw materials in her paintings such as cement, coffee and milk paint, which lends a rich and translucent finish to her paintings. She also uses recycled wooden pallets and metal background that give her paintings a distinctly contemporary, organic quality. The old and traditional serve as a basis for her new and innovative art.
Kakish is an active member of initiative company ’YourAOK Creative network’, a creative platform based in Kuwait and currently serving the MENA. Kakish held her first solo exhibition in 2011 and participated in several exhibitions, workshops and group shows in Amman, Kuwait and Greece.
Suzanne Saoub
Suzanne Saoub is a Jordanian artist born in 1978 in Amman who was raised in a talent-charged family. She obtained her degree in science and worked many years in the corporate sector. Her interests were not satisfied and the obsession that she called a ‘hobby in art’ took over the other side of her brain and pushed her to quit the rewarding yet dull business world, and move to Barcelona, Spain where she pursued a degree in art.
Saoub grew up in the Arab world where she continues to face big challenges as a woman. She finds herself building most of her pieces around the female role and its complexities within different cultures by using different materials
and techniques to articulate her own ideas and obsessions to viewers.
She is currently living and working in Jordan while attending an artist residency program in downtown Amman.
Shamekh AlBluwi
Shamekh AlBluwi, a Saudi Arabian born in Amman in 1985, is an architect, visual artist, fashion illustrator and designer. He studied Architectural Engineering at the Applied Science University in Amman, Jordan. He has a passion for illustration, especially fashion illustration. His main inspiration comes from contradictions, nature, architecture and insects.
Tamer AlMasri
Tamer studied International Affairs; however, his true passion has always been in the arts. An illustrator and painter, Tamer co-founded a multimedia-marketing platform that celebrates the crowd-sourced works of awesome creative Arabs and produces them on high quality products under the Jobedu brand.
Yazan Hijazin
Yazan Hijazin is a product designer by passion and raw talent and founder of Anknownymous. After ten years of progressive asset management experience, he decided to follow his passion in life: design. Anonymous to the design industry yet consumed with a desire to create bespoke furniture and lighting pieces that would be known worldwide, he founded Anknownymous Ltd, a special design studio, in 2011. His first commission, “BenchArk,” for Orient Gallery-Amman, has been awarded with the prominent “Golden A’ Design Award” 2011/2012. In November 2012 by public voting via Living Well Magazine, Anknownymous won “Jordan’s Favorite Designer” among 8 local designer features. Anknownymous’ “OYO Coffee Table Set” has participated in Trendsetter II Exhibition 2012. “Scaffold28” has been the talk of Art Week Amman 2013. Mr. Hijazin was born in 1977 and obtained his bachelor degree in Accounting from the University of Jordan and a Master’s degree in Finance and Investment Management from Aberdeen University in Scotland.
Yazan Masarweh
Yazan Masarweh, born 1977, is a hand craftsman specializing in rock paintings. He obtained a B.A. in English Literature and Translation from Al Zaytoona University of Jordan in 1999. His past professions include graphic design and script writing.
A combination of higher education and practical experience resulting in qualifications related to Graphic Design, Free-hand Drawing and Creating 2D Characters, creating shows for kids and English Language and Translation.
Masarweh has worked as a graphic designer for Abu Mahjoob, Jordan Property Magazine, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh amongst other freelance work. His clients also include Tala Bay, Jordan Education Initiative, Fakker, Intracom Middle East, Ayla as well as the Bible Society of Jordan.
Masarweh currently resides in Jordan and works as a freelance graphic designer
Wesam Shadid
Born in 1975, Wesam Shadid is a self-taught urban artist. He is a freelance digital illustrator, scenic painter and graffiti artist. His past achievements include working on Background and Scene Installation for the film production “Zero Dark Thirty”. Shadid’s past work experience includes working as a Digital Illustrator and Colorist for Crazy Piranha Animation Studio in Amman, Jordan. His goal for future work is to implement his skills as an illustrator, designer and graffiti artist in commercial design projects.