Kareem Rizk

Kareem Rizk is an Australia-born self-taught collage and mixed media artist now living and working in Denmark.

Informed by his background in graphic design, his affinity for typography and his interest in re-purposing printed ephemera, Kareem's highly-textured and multi-layered works evolve from an intersection where fine art and design cross over.

Kareem has exhibited internationally in gallery shows and art fairs and his original artworks hang in private collections worldwide. Other work has included freelance illustration and fine art commissions for various clients including art buyers, editorial publications and the boutique fashion industry.

Artist statement

"As I explore the printed remnants of the promises of post-war culture and advertising, I reach for weathered elements and found imagery that resonate with me both on a visual and emotional level.

My aim is to construct tactile representations of transitory feelings or visions that emerge as I sift through an ever growing collection of collage material. I allow my source material to present aesthetic directions in a process of cutting and pasting that is free flowing and immediate, but at the same time visually coherent and deliberate.

I arrange, rearrange, crop, cut, fold, tear, scratch and peel back selected pieces to find interesting connections that reveal an ongoing visual dialogue between graphic design and fine art. After every selected piece of collage is eventually glued down into place through a series of calculated movements, it is the viewer who ultimately completes the work by constructing their own individual stories based on what they observe."