Nima Nabavi

Born in Iran in 1978, Nima Nabavi is a self-taught artist based between Dubai and New York. His practice centers on geometric abstraction and its connection to the natural world, quantum processes, and psychedelic phenomena.

Drawing on an ever-expanding set of tools – ranging from the traditional to the technological – Nabavi creates grid-based compositions of elaborately layered, imagined ordered forms, inspired by his grandfather, who was a master geometric artist for over 50 years in Iran.  Nabavi’s mathematical approach and repetitive numeric symbolism rely heavily on advanced planning, precise calculations, and self-developed methodologies to ensure the vital structural accuracy of each work. This contemplative execution of intricate geometries aims to build complexity out of simple forms and reveal the emergent harmony and inherent beauty that underlie the structure of our shared reality.

Selected solo exhibition include Sunrise at the Vortex, Dubai, UAE (2025); Visiting, Roswell Museum, New Mexico, USA (2023); 1,2,3, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2018).

Nabavi has participated in group exhibitions including Duality, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2023); Geometry and Art in The Modern Middle East, Misk Art Institute, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (2023); Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival – ‘Gradate’, Sharjah Museum of Art, Sharjah, UAE (2022); Ways of Seeing Abstraction - Works from the Deutsche Bank Collection, Palais Populaire, Berlin, Germany (2021); There is Fiction In The Space Between, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2020); Crafting Geometry: Abstract Art from South and West Asia, Sotheby’s, New York, USA (2020); Fragments, Yesterday and Today, Gateway, Abu Dhabi Art, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2019); Your Favorite Artist's Favorite Artist #2, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, USA (2019); Horizon, Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah, UAE (2018).

Nabavi’s work is part of private and public collections, including the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, Roswell, New Mexico, USA; Deutsche Bank Collection, Berlin, Germany; and Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE.