Ayyad AlNimer
Born in 1948 in Egypt, acquiring a BA with honours from the Fine Arts Academy in Cairo. Immediately after graduation he relocated to Jordan and began his career as an artist and an educator teaching art for 10 years; He published several books on art education and drawing, many of which were later incorporated into school curricula in Amman, Jordan. He also contributed art criticism to local newspapers, enriching public understanding of the arts. While still living in Jordan, he founded his own gallery—Akhenaton Gallery—in 1986, playing an active role in the revival of the local art movement for two years before relocating to the United States in 1989.
His art work can be seen at the National Museum of Jordan and Arab Bank branches, having many collectors all over in Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and European countries such as Britain, France, Holland, Spain, and also in America.
The artist’s career includes a rich history of solo and group exhibitions spanning several decades and multiple countries. Their solo exhibitions began in 1976 with two black-and-white graphic exhibitions at Helwan University in Cairo, followed by numerous shows in Amman throughout the 1980s at venues such as the Royal Cultural Center, Petra Bank Gallery, the French Cultural Center, Alia Art Gallery, the Spanish Cultural Center, and the British Council. In the 1990s and early 2000s, they exhibited at Darat Al Funun and Dar Alanda Gallery in Amman, as well as internationally at Hairpin Alley in Carmel, California. From 2012 onward, their work was shown at prominent galleries including Wadi Finan Art Gallery and Foresight Art Gallery in Amman, FA Gallery and Boushahri Art Gallery in Kuwait, (XOL) Gallery in Baltimore, Demouzy Contemporary in both Amman and Long Island, Nout Art Gallery in Cairo, T-GAW Gallery in Kiev, and Capital Art Gallery in Zamalek. Their group exhibitions are equally extensive, featuring participation in recurring shows at Wadi Finan and Foresight galleries, as well as exhibitions at Gallery 14 and Nabad Gallery in Amman, Darat Al Funun’s Contemporary Arab Artists Exhibition over many years, and international venues such as galleries in Washington DC, Palm Beach Gardens, Soho in New York, and Cairo. In 1987, the artist established the Akhenaton Gallery in Amman and supervised the Jordanian Fine Arts Festival Exhibition, which featured 38 Jordanian artists. Their achievements were recognized early on with an Honourable Award from the Art Lovers Society in Cairo in 1977.