BIOGRAPHY

Jordan Nassar’s hand embroidered textile pieces address an intersecting field of language, ethnicity and the embedded notions of heritage and homeland. Treating craft within its capacity as communicative form, Nassar examines conflicting issues of identity and cultural participation using geometric patterning adapted from Islamic symbols present in traditional Palestinian hand embroidery. Nassar generates these symbols via computer and then meticulously hand stitches them onto carefully mapped-out patterns. In the enmeshing and encoding of these symbols within his work, Nassar roots his practice in a linguistic and geopolitical field of play characterized by both conflict and unspoken harmony.

Jordan Nassar  (b.1985, New York, NY) earned his BA at Middlebury College in 2007. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions globally at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; BRIC, Brooklyn, NY; Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY; Abrons Art Center, New York, NY;  Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA; James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY; Evelyn Yard, London, UK, Exile Gallery in Berlin, Germany, and The Third Line, Dubai, UAE. His work is included in the current group exhibition Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950 – 2019 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Nassar lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

EXHIBITIONS

We Are The Ones To Go To The Mountains, September 15 – October 27, 2020

Staycation, April 7 – May 30, 2020

Home is Not a Place, June 8 – July 13, 2019

Frieze New York: Frame, May 2 – 6 , 2018

Dunya, September 9 – October 21, 2017

CV

Jordan Nassar

1985

Born in Manhattan, NY

Lives and works in New York City

Education

2007

BA, Middlebury College, Vermont, US

Solo Exhibitions and Two Person Exhibitions

2020

The Field is Infinite, KMAC Museum, Louisville, KY

I Cut the Sky in Two, James Cohan, New York, NY

We Are The Ones To Go To The Mountain, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

ADAA, with James Cohan, New York, NY

2019

Between Sky and Earth, Bainbridge House, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ

The Sea Beneath Our Eyes, Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel

For Your Eyes, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE

2018

Frieze New York, with Anat Ebgi, New York, NY

2017

Dunya, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

Jaffa: New Works, Artport Tel Aviv, Israel

2016

No Secret with Mika Horibuchi, LVL3 Gallery, Chicago, IL

2015

And a Night, Evelyn Yard, London, UK

Group Exhibitions

2021

Pt. 2: Invasive Species, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

2020

Picturing Motherhood Now: Images for a New Era, Cleveland Museum of Art, OH

There is Fiction in Space, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE

We Do Not Dream Alone, Asia Society Triennial, Asia Society, New York, NY

RELATIONS: Diaspora and Painting, Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

The Armory Show, with James Cohan, New York, NY

2019

Art Basel Miami, with Anat Ebgi, Miami, FL

Making Knowing: Craft in Art 1950-2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

James Cohan: Twenty Years, James Cohan, New York, NY

Home is Not a Place, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

Go Away Road, Loyal Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden

Frieze Los Angeles, with Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

Borders, James Cohan Gallery, New York NY

The Conversation, Anat Ebgi at Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA

2018

Art Toronto, with Anat Ebgi, Toronto, Canada

Out Of Ink, 8 Ball, NYC, NY

A Matter Of Printing (for SMC), Supportico Lopez, Berlin, Germany

Pray For This Gallery, NYC, NY

Home Edition, Essex Flowers, NYC, NY

The New Minimalists, Abrons Art Center, NYC, NY

New Threads: Perspectives in Contemporary Fiber Art, Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA

Long, Winding Journeys: Contemporary Art and the Islamic Tradition, Kotonah Museum of Art, NYC, NY

2017

Bootleg T-shirt Show Part III, Printed Matter Inc., NYC, NY

Untitled Art Fair Miami, with Vigo Gallery, Miami, FL

On Longing, Arcadia Missa, NYC, NY

Overview, Samuel, Chicago, IL

Art Los Angeles Contemporary with Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

Untitled, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, San Francisco, CA

2016

Summer Reading, Fortnight Institute, NYC, NY

In Residence, Las Cruxes, Houston, TX

2015

Bootleg T-Shirt Show Part II, Printed Matter, Inc., NYC, NY

Ausstellung 61, Exile Gallery, Berlin, Germany

NADA NY with Evelyn Yard, London, UK

2014

June Snow, Evelyn Yard, London, UK

Group Publication Exhibitions

2016

E.A.S.T. (East Austin Studio Tour), ATM Gallery, Austin, TX

CASSANDRA, NY Art Book Fair 2016, NY

FLEX PLEX 2K16, LA Art Book Fair 2016, CA

2015

Showroom Miami, SWGR Gallery, Miami, FL

Up in Smoke 2, NY Art Book Fair 2015, NYC, NY

Artist Residencies

2017

Artport Tel Aviv, Israel

2016

ACE AIR, Ace Hotel, New York, NY

Publications and Press

2019

Landscape Painting Now, Distributed Art Publishers (Forthcoming April 2019)

2018

"How To Sleep Faster, Issue 8" Published by Arcadia Missa, London

2017

"Zine Tornado", Published by Peter Sutherland and Maia Ruth Lee

"Violent Music", Published by Cali Thornhill Dewitt

2016

The Third Rail (Summer 2016)

Selected Press

2020

Alina Cohen, "5 Embroidery Tips from Leading Contemporary Artists," Artsy, May 19, 2020. (Link)

Martha Schwendener, "The Art Show at The Armory," New York Times, February 27, 2020. (Link)

Murtaza Vali, "Artforum Critic's Pick," December 18, 2019. (Link)

Aaron Hicklin, "Jordan Nassar’s new apartment exhibition lives between the Israel, Palestine binary," Document Journal, November 26, 2019. (Link)

Artsy Editors "The Artists To Know Right Now," The Artsy Vanguard, September 16, 2019. (Link)

2019

Claire Wrathall, "New Threads," Christie's Magazine, June 2019. (Link)

Harry Tafoya, "Finding Both Comfort and Challenge in the Idea of "'Home.'" Hyperallergic, July 2, 2019. (Link)

"Reframing Inherited Nostalgia," Harper's Bazaar Arabia, April 2019. (Link)

"Jordan Nassar's New Take on Traditional Hand Embroidery," Embroidery Magazine, January 2019

2018

Rebecca Bengal, "How This Brooklyn-Based Artist is Transforming Traditional Palestinian Folk Art," Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2018. (Link)

"Watch: The Cross-Cultural Relationship Between Married Artists Jordan Nassar and Amir Guberstein," OUT Magazine, May 18, 2018. (Link)

Alex Bacon, "Jordan Nassar is delicately weaving a new vision into one of Palestine’s cultural legacies," Document, May 4, 2018. (Link)

Sara Roffino, "The 8 Best Booths to See at Frieze New York," Cultured Magazine, May 4, 2018. (Link)

Alexandra Weiss, "10 Must-See Artists at Frieze New York 2018," BlackBook, May 3, 2018. (Link)

Nadja Sayej, "Frieze New York: How This Year's Art Fair Got Political," The Guardian, May 3, 2018. (Link)

Hamish Bowles, "Here’s What to Go See at This Year’s Frieze Art Fair," Vogue Magazine, May 3, 2018. (Link)

Maximilíano Durón, "Preview Frieze New York 2018," ArtNews, May 1, 2018. (Link)

Gareth Harris, "Frieze to bring West Coast buzz to New York," The Art Newspaper, April 30, 2018. (Link)

Frieze New York, ARTPIL, April 22, 2018. (Link)

Aaron Hicklin, "Spinning Yarns," Out Magazine, April 2018. (Link)

2017

Leah Ollman, “Jordan Nassar at Anat Ebgi: Palestinian cross stitch art as boundary breaker,” Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2017.

2016

Molly Taylor, “New Establishment,” Elephant Magazine Issue 28, Autumn 2016.

Feature on Littlestar Weekly, www.littlestarjournal.com, August 1, 2016.

2015

LVL3, “Artist of the Week: Jordan Nassar,” September 15, 2015.

Selected Bibliography of Self-Published Artist's Books

2016

A Whole New World

We Were Here First

Bellevue

Any Other Rose

Messenger of the Gods

Kahlil Gibran

2015

When It’s Naked

Ma Rose Apocalypse

Collections

Bonnier Collection, Stockholm

Fidelity Collection, Boston, MA

Israel Museum, Tel Aviv

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

Marciano Foundation, Los Angeles, CA

Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY