Nima Nabavi: Sunrise at the Vortex

The Third Line is pleased to present Sunrise at the Vortex, the second solo exhibition by Nima Nabavi at the gallery. Featuring a selection of new works made by the artist between 2022 and 2025, the show marks a significant evolution in his practice, both conceptually and technically. Rooted in his travels to sites across the world considered to be energy centers by different communities, the works reflect Nabavi’s deepened commitment to introspection, geometry, and modes of making that embrace technology alongside traditional tools.

Spending quiet time in these sites, the artist forged a stronger connection to himself and the universe, which prompted a turn to his practice as a way for meditation and self-exploration. Created in concentrated, inspired bursts within makeshift studios in Roswell, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and Dubai, the resulting works exude increasing complexity and intensity in both form and color.

Roswell2223 (2023), the largest handmade piece Nabavi has created to date, consists of countless lines that create a brilliant, crystalline surface. Drawn painstakingly over the course of a year—often while crouching over the canvas to trace each line, assisted only by a nine-foot ruler—the piece reflects the artist’s belief in life: “If the intention to maintain a pattern is there, then over time, all these lines will form the pattern—like life, in the sense that if we maintain the intention to live with kindness, openness, and consistency, we will lead that kind of life, even if we may have some bad days on the way.” Collectively, the geometric forms of the work map out a universe that invite viewers to lose themselves in.

Simultaneously, reflections on the meaning of artmaking have inspired the artist to broaden the scope of his methodology. Nabavi has experimented with various new media and technology in recent years, creating works such as Signal (2025), a site-specific Digital Façade Commission by Art Jameel, displayed at Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, UAE in April 2025.

In Sunrise at the Vortex, Nabavi presents a series of works made using an architectural pen-plotter typically employed to print building blueprints. Hand-drawn digital compositions are rendered line-by-line by the machine utilizing the same tools as the artist, resulting in richly layered pieces that retain his signature intricacy while allowing for greater depth. Far from reducing his practice, technology becomes a means of enriching it, as it enables the artist to conceive and realize geometric forms that would otherwise be impossible. As Nabavi recounts: “Growing up, I witnessed my grandfather, who was a self-taught geometric artist, no longer being able to execute his ideas – which were becoming ever-complex over the years – as his body grew weaker with age.”

This memory underscores the artist’s decision to integrate technology into his process as one not to delegate creativity, but to carve out space for introspection and experimentation, as well as to ensure its sustainability and expansion. Collectively, the works in the exhibition reflect Nabavi’s evolving relationship with his practice – one that honors both his past and the possibilities ahead.