Naseer Shamma

Naseer Shamma was born in Kut, Iraq, in 1963. Known first as an oud player and composer, he also paints abstract works in acrylic on canvas. He mixes the sawdust left from making ouds with pigment to build thick, textured surfaces, from large reliefs to small framed panels.

Shamma has painted since the 1980s, starting in Baghdad and continuing in Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt, at first only for himself. He relates colour to the degrees of the maqam, the modal system of Arabic music. Quarter Tone, shown in Cairo in 2025 and in Riyadh in 2026, is named after the narrow interval between two notes in that music. In it he adds recycled soil and dust to the oud residue.

His first art exhibition, Half Life at Etihad Modern Art Gallery in Abu Dhabi in 2024, brought together more than 70 paintings made over four decades. At its opening he signed copies of A Vision and a Life: Forty Years of Colours. He trained in music in Baghdad, founded the Arab Oud House in Cairo in 1999 and was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace in 2017.