Alaa Shasheet

I am a Contemporary Painter and Printmaker based in London. Holding an MA in International Contemporary Art and a BFA in Printmaking.

Growing up in Damascus, Syria, before moving to Southeast Asia for eight years, where I explored art and culture, added to years living in the UK, gave me a cultural mixture and experience from the Middle East, Asia and the West, which is reflected in my artworks by symbols, textures, feelings and shapes that I carried from every stage in my life.

My artworks are largely based on self-expression and reflections of my feelings and thoughts, not only as an individual but as a human living in a rapidly evolving time, technology, wars, crises and hope with every sunrise. I strive to achieve a sense of visual simplicity and sophistication that reflects these emotions through abstract forms.

The visual vocabulary of my abstract shapes is a mixture of elements I have picked up and developed in life, for instance, the urban buildings of cities like Damascus. Influenced by the structures and relations between the buildings, rooftops, sky and the messy, narrow alleys. Arabic and Asian ink calligraphy art, the sand on an abandoned beach, the landscapes in the UK, the quiet gloomy winter, the massive giant b...

MA in International Contemporary Art and Design Practice

BFA in Printmaking

2023 HOME, group exhibition
The Department Store, London, UK

2023 Anniversary 10 x 10 group exhibition
Hansard Studios, London, UK

2023 Familiar & Strange group exhibition
The Holy Art Gallery, London, UK

2021 REKA: Cetakan printmaking group exhibition
Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia

2020 Belang Exhibition
Penang State Gallery, Penang, Malaysia

2019 Kecik – Kecik Exhibition
Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia

2019 8'' by 6'' Project II Exhibition
The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac), Malaysia

2019 REbirth Solo Exhibition
China House, Penang, Malaysia

2019 ArtEDecor2
MATRADE, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2019 The 8” x 6” Project Exhibition
26 Lorong Carnarvon Art Space, Penang, Malaysia

2019 BOLD Duo Exhibition with the sculptor Aboud Fares
Aboud Fares open studio, Penang, Malaysia

2018 NON-FINITO Exhibition
The University of Malaya Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2018 ArtEDecor1
MATRADE, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2014 Duo Exhibition with the artist Nour Zantah
Al Yasmeen Gallery, Algiers, Algeria

2013 “Art Warning the World” campaign and exhibition
Paris, France

2011 Fine Art Group Exhibition
George Kamel Gallery, Damascus, Syria

2010 Fine Art Group Exhibition
French Cultural Centre in Dama...