Louvre Abu Dhabi and Swiss watchmaking brand Richard Mille revealed Nasser Alzayani as the winner of the first edition of the Richard Mille Art Prize. Nasser Alzayani was one of seven artists shortlisted for the award in October 2021 and showcased in the exhibition Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2021.
Nasser Alzayani was selected by a distinguished four-member jury including HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Chairman of UAE Unlimited, an avid art collector and patron of the Centre Pompidou, the British Museum and Sharjah Art Foundation; Christine Macel, Chief Curator at the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Pompidou and an art critic; Hala Wardé, founding architect of HW Architecture and long-term partner of Jean Nouvel, who was the lead of the Louvre Abu Dhabi project; and Dr. Souraya Noujaim, Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Scientific, Curatorial and Collections Management Director.
Artworks from all Richard Mille Art Prize shortlisted artists are currently on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi Art Here 2021 exhibition until 27 March 2022.
Artist Bio
Nasser Alzayani is a Bahraini-American artist (b.1991, Manama, Bahrain) living and working in Abu Dhabi. Nasser’s practice expresses a research-driven documentation of time and place through text and image, as well as found and cast objects. Incorporating themes of factual and fictional archaeology, his most recent work explores alternative narratives of collective experience.
Nasser’s group exhibitions include Kissing Through A Curtain, MASS MoCA, North Adams, USA (2020); The Youth Takeover, Jameel Art Centre, Dubai, UAE (2020); Glass Triennial, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, USA (2019); _____scapes, Gelman Gallery, Providence, USA (2019); Bayn, Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2017); and Watering the distant, deserting the near, Al Riwaq, Bahrain (2016).
Nasser is a recipient of the Fundación Casa Wabi x ArtReview Residency (2017), the Villa Lena Foundation Residency (2018), and the Cultural Foundation Art Residency in Abu Dhabi (2021).
He has an MFA in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design (2019) and a BArch from American University of Sharjah (2015).