2001 Prince Claus laureate Ibrahim El-Salahi exhibits in the Sharjah Art Museum in the United Arabic Emirates from 20 March till 31 May 2012. Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist, an exhibition organized by the Museum for African Art, New York, highlights the exemplary work of Sudanese artist Ibrahim El-Salahi.

The retrospective includes 80 works encompassing over five decades of the artist’s career. A Visionary Modernist follows work produced during El-Salahi’s travels from Sudan, while in self-imposed exile in Qatar, and on his continued spiritual journey in Oxford, United Kingdom. The exhibition highlights drawings, paintings, and literary ephemera on loan from international institutions and private collections.

El Salahi’s body of work is not bound within one style nor is it constrained by the early parameters of Sudanese aesthetic practices. His paintings combine a critical understanding of western art principles with reference to Sudanese and Islamic art forms. His trademark linear style remains a pre-eminent unifying device expressing the intuitive merging of Islamic spirituality with critical social consciousness.

Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist is organized by the Museum for African Art, New York, and has been supported, in part, by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Additional support has been provided by the Sharjah Art Museum.

The exhibition catalogue is published with the assistance of the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development.