Jordan
Nassar
He // Him // His
[ID: A portrait of a man with a pale complexion sitting in front of a light grey background. He has short, cropped brown hair, and wears a blue silk button-down shirt.]
New York, NY
2022 USA Fellow
This award was generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
_
Jordan Nassar (b. 1985, New York) creates hand-embroidered pieces that address the intersection of craft, ethnicity, and the embedded notions of heritage and homeland. Treating traditional craft more as medium than topic, Nassar examines conflicting issues of identity and cultural participation, using geometric patterning adapted from symbols and motifs present in traditional Palestinian hand embroidery. Meticulously hand stitching colorful compositions across carefully mapped-out patterns, he roots his practice in a geopolitical field of play characterized by both conflict and unspoken harmony.
His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at institutions including the Orlando Museum of Art; Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv; Princeton University Art Museum; Museum of Arts and Design, New York; and the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, New York. Recent notable exhibitions include Making Knowing: craft in Art, 1950–2019 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Asia Society Triennial “We Do Not Dream Alone” in New York, and The Field Is Infinite, a solo exhibition at KMAC Museum in Louisville, Kentucky.
Nassar is represented by James Cohan, New York; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles; and The Third Line, Dubai.
Portrait photo by Alexander Rotondo.
A Yellow World A Blue Sun, 2020. Hand-embroidered cotton on cotton, dimensions 33.5 × 55 inches. Photo by Phoebe d'Heurle; courtesy of the artist, James Cohan, New York; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles; and The Third Line, Dubai.[ID: A rectangular piece comprised of colorful diamond shapes. The background of the image is visually split in two, with the right half of the image patterned yellow and light green and the left half of the image blue and dark green. In the center of the image, the diamond shapes become multi-colored to create the image of a mountain peak with blues, greens, yellows, and pinks.]
Al-Fasul Al-Arba’a (The Four Seasons), 2021. Hand-embroidered cotton on cotton, dimensions 17.5 × 40.5 inches. Photo by Shark Senesac; courtesy of the artist, James Cohan, New York; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles; and The Third Line, Dubai.[ID: An image in four panels. Each panel uses abstract geometric shapes to create a graphic image of a mountain range. The shift in pattern and color in each panel give the illusion of the passage of time from day to night.]
Bab Al-Amoud (Gate of the Pillar), 2020. Hand-flamed glass beads, steel, wire, dimensions 12 × 29 × 10 inches. Photo by Phoebe d'Heurle; courtesy of the artist, James Cohan, New York, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, and The Third Line, Dubai.[ID: A free-standing screen covered in small circular beads. The rich blues, greens, and yellows of the stones create the image of a mountain peak.]