Mohamed Abdul Latif Kanoo was born, in Manama, Bahrain, in 1963. He is an artist, curator, and co-owner of Ghaf Gallery, established in 2006, the first independent visual arts space in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. He earned a B.A. in economics and political science from the University of Texas at Austin and attended the American University, Washington D.C., where he studied monetary economics. Kanoo is a self-taught painter who initially worked in the Ben-Day dots technique, often seen in the work of Roy Lichtenstein, combined with the Pop art style of Andy Warhol. His portrait of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the late president and founder of the United Arab Emirates, was created in this style. Kanoo’s work has transitioned over the years to include mixed-media pieces and installations in which he often uses humor as a way to “communicate with a broader demographic and a way of generating greater public debate and interaction with contemporary art in the Gulf.”
Kanoo’s work was first shown in the 2004 group exhibition Cosmos: A Written Word; Arabic Calligraphy Through the Ages, Museum for Applied Arts, Frankfurt, Germany. Other group exhibitions featuring his work include Shemaghart (2007), Galeria Metropolitana, Barcelona; Languages of the Desert: Contemporary Gulf Arab Artist Exhibition (2007), Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, U.A.E., traveling exhibition; French Art Festival 2008, Abu Dhabi; and Shubbak Festival (2011), Sotheby’s exhibition, London (Shubbak was London’s first celebration of contemporary culture from across the Arab world). His solo exhibitions are Debut in Dubai (2005), Artspace, Dubai, U.A.E.; 3 Icons (2007), Ghaf Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi; and Fun w/Fen [Fun w/Art]: Mohamed Kanoo (2012), Meem Gallery, Dubai. His work is included in several corporate collections in U.A.E and Europe.
www.meemartgallery.com/art_exhibiting.php?id=38
http://2014biennial.fotofest.org
