Rema Ghuloum Lebanese-Jordanian-Kuwaiti-American, b. 1978
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Biography
“My paintings emerge out of the process of slowly building up the surface with thin stains of paint and sanding in between to preserve the previous layers,” Rema Ghuloum writes. “Pattern and shapes come into being through this process. I create a surface that breathes and remembers.”
Rema Ghuloum’s vibrant works are in a continual state of becoming, not pinned down, with a sense of colour and space that is always shifting and transforming.
Ghuloum’s experiential, intensely physical works combine technical skill, rich emotion, and the willingness to take risks - core values at the heart of art-making. She comments, “I do not really know what the painting will be initially. I am always trying to create contrasts within each work. I ask, ‘Is the painting dense, or is it more ethereal or atmospheric? Does space expand and contract?’ I think about what my works can do or evoke. They are not static.”
In the process of making her works, Ghuloum responds to the work experientially as it is formed; in some sense, her style combines the opticality of high-modernism and the expression of post-war abstraction. Informing this subtle relation is the contrast in Ghuloum’s paintings between the deep space of their centres and the more shallow one at their edges. “The edges reflect the history of my process,” she notes. “At the end of every work session, I apply the remaining paint on my palette loosely around the edge with a palette knife or various brushes as another way to record time.”
Ghuloum’s work focuses her viewer on the present, while at the same time questioning how that experience is ordered by the past. Her works are generous and robust. They offer us an opportunity to navigate vision with both eye and spirit, to sense both our own presence before her works, and the pictorial one she has crafted.
Rema Ghuloum lives and works in Los Angeles, USEDUCATION
2010, MFA, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA, US
2007, BFA in Drawing and Painting, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, US
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS2024, Atmospheres, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US
2024, When the Day is Done, DeBoer Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2023, 4 Is a Rainbow Line, Et al., San Francisco, CA, US
2022, Inviting the Bell, Sargent’s Daughters, New York, NY, US
2022, Frequencies, Emma Gray HQ, Los Angeles, CA, US
2022, Last Light, Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH, US
2020, After Night, Five Car Garage, Santa Monica, CA, US
2019, Ether Drawings (online via Artsy), Edward Cella Gallery, US
2019, Love is a Feeling, Edward Cella Art + Architecture, Los Angeles, CA, US
2018, The Sun Appeared White and Without Its Rays, Et al. Gallery, San Francisco, CA, US
2018, Walking in the Dark, Jacob’s, Los Angeles, CA, US
2015, A Sky With Edges, Sonce Alexander Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS2025, Fertile Dreams, Tabari Artspace, Dubai, UAE
2025, Kwame Brathwaite, Carl Cheng, Sky Glabush, Rema Ghuloum, Miami Beach, FL, US
2025, Bakers Dozen, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA, US
2025, Affirmations: Mindfulness in Contemporary Abstract Painting, curated by Roman Stollenwerk, Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, US
2024, Always the Sun, Library Street Collective, Detroit, MI, US
2024, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Sargent’s Daughter, Los Angeles, CA, US
2023, The Sky Has a Thousand Windows, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US
2023–24, Shaping Gravity: Abstract Art Beyond the Picture Plane, Forest Lawn Museum, Glendale, CA, US
2023, Abstraction, Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK
2023, Unrequited Love, Nathalie Karg, New York, NY, US
2023, The Angels, Baik Art, Seoul, Korea
2023, NADA NY (two-person), Et al., New York, NY, US
2023, I Am the Passenger, Mother Gallery, Beacon, NY, US
2023, The Holographic Principle, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US
2023, Color Fields, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, US
2023, 1525, Part 2 Gallery, Oakland, CA, US
2023, Things Seen, Make Room, Los Angeles, CA
2023, Soulscapes, Meyer Reigger, Berlin, Germany
2022, Winter, Alicia, Alta Dena, CA
2022, Summertime Rolls, La Loma Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2022, Generations, Brand Library, Glendale, CA
2021, From Morning Til Night, We Should Never Rely on a Single Thing, curated by Tomory Dodge, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2021, Flying Colors, curated by Dion Johnson, Contemporary Art Matters, Columbus, OH, US
2021, MAIL: HATE MAIL, FAN MAIL, JUNK MAIL, EMAIL, Olympia Art, New York, NY, US
2021, The Forest and the Sea, Five Car Garage, Santa Monica, CA, US
2020, Vista, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA, US
2019, A Store Show, Odd Ark LA, Los Angeles, CA, US
2019, The Flat Files, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA, US
2019, Children of the Sun, Ladies Room, Los Angeles, CA, US
2019, Secret Garden, Harris Gallery, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA, US
2018, Human Touch, Left Field Gallery, Los Osos, CA, US
2018, Art Toronto, Et al., Toronto, Canada
2018, SUPERSHADOWPOWERWOMAN, Five Car Garage, Los Angeles, CA, US
2018, Vernacular Environments, Part 2, curated by David De Boer, Los Angeles, CA, US
2018, Radiant, curated by Leonardo Bravo, Blue Roof Studios, Los Angeles, CA, US
2018, Airtight Garage, curated by Laurie Nye, Big Pictures Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, US
2018, Like Ghosts, JAUS, Los Angeles, CA (two-person), US
2017, Body High, TSA LA, Los Angeles, CA, US
2017, Material Witness, The Front, New Orleans, LA, US
2017, Abstraction in the Singular, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ, US
2015, Riot of Flowers, Eastside International, Los Angeles, CA, US
2015, Microscopes and Binoculars, Hoffman LaChance Contemporary, St. Louis, MO, US, US
2015, Post Medium, Manhattan Beach Art Center, Manhattan Beach, CA, US
2015, AFTER LIVING IN THE ROOM OF RÉALITÉS NOUVELLES, Sonce Alexander Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US
2014, Express an Interest in Listening, Berkeley Center Arts Passage, Berkeley, CA, US
2013, No Region Would, West LA College Art Gallery, Culver City, CA, US
2013, Pacifica: Esalen Pacifica Prize Exhibition, Arka Gallery, Vladivostok, Russia
2013, Pacifica: Esalen Pacifica Prize Exhibition, Make Hang Gallery, San Francisco, CA, US
2012, Seven Young Los Angeles Painters I Like, George Lawson Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US
2011, Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant Recipients, Cue Art Foundation, New York, NY, US
2010, Out of the Flat Files, Triple Base Gallery, San Francisco, CA, US
2010, Spatium Sets, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, US
2010, At Bay, Worth Ryder Gallery, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, US
2009, Without, New Wight Gallery Themed Biennial, UCLA, US Department of Art, Los Angeles, CA, US
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY/PRESS2025, Daniel Gerwin review of Ghuloum’s work at Philip Martin Gallery, Artforum, Daniel Gerwin
2024, Rema Ghuloum at Philip Martin Gallery, KCRW, Lindsay Preston Zappas
2024, Refusing Identification, Not Identity: Contemporary Positions in Abstraction, CARLA, Jonathan Griffin
2023, The Best Art I Saw in 2023, KQED, Sarah Hotchkiss
2023, Review: Trend Spotting at NADA NY, Wall Street Journal, Brian P. Kelly
2023, LA’s Indie Spaces Are Giving the Mega Galleries a Run for Their Money, Financial Times, Julie Baumgardner
2021, Rema Ghuloum – Untitled Art Fair Interview, Interlocutor Interviews, Amy Boone‑McCreesh
2020, Rema Ghuloum at Five Car Garage, CARLA, Jessica Simmons
2020, Artists Quarantine with Their Art Collections, Hyperallergic, Stephen Maine
2019, An Artist Uses Abstraction to Express the Loss of Her Sisters, Hyperallergic, Daniel Gerwin
2019, Artforum Critic’s Picks: Love is a Feeling, Artforum, Annabel Osberg
2019, Top Ten Paintings at ALAC ('Shade' by Rema Ghuloum), Maake Magazine, Katie Kirk
2018, Where to Find Fantastic Beasts? At Big Pictures Los Angeles ‘Airtight Garage’, Los Angeles Times, David Pagel
2018, Like Ghosts: New Works by Rema Ghuloum and HK Zamani, Art and Cake, Lorraine Heitzman
2017, Abstraction in the Singular Opens at Bentley Gallery, Arizona Foothills Magazine, Nicole Royse
2017, Abstraction in the Singular, Art Ltd., Deborah RossCOLLECTIONS
De Young Museum
City of Hope Art Collection
The Fidelity Investments Art Collection
United Polaris Lounge, Los Angeles International Airport
ART FAIRS
2025, Art Basel, Miami, US
2024, NADA, NY, US
2023, NADA, NY, US
2021, Untitled Art Fair with Emma Gray HQ, Miami, FL, US
INTERVIEWS2025, CSULB Alumni Find a Full Circle Moment Exhibiting at the Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Richard Chang
2025, Future is Fine, Interview by Erich Bach & Lily Monbouquette
2024, Rema Ghuloum,” Art Megastar, Interview by David Roff
2023, A Geography of Color Podcast, Interview by Ruth Philo
2018, Life Line, An Interview with Rema Ghuloum, Compound-Ed 2: Radical Empathy
2018, Art & Life with Rema Ghuloum (Voyage LA), Interview by Sarah Abrahms
2016, Q&A with Rema Ghuloum, Maake Magazine, Lydia O’Reily
2013, From the Studio, Interview by Carol Pulitzer
PUBLIC INSTALLATIONS2010, In Remembrance of…, Artists’ Television Access Window Gallery, San Francisco, CA, US (solo)
SELECTED GRANTS/AWARDS/RESIDENCIES/LECTURES2020, Davyd Whaley Artist Teacher Grant, Los Angeles, CA, US
2018, Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, NY, US
2018, Artist in Residence, Joan Mitchell Center, New Orleans, LA, US
2017, Adolf & Esther Gottlieb Foundation Emergency Grant, New York, NY, US
2016, Artist in Residence, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, US
2013, Artist in Residence, Joan Mitchell Center, New Orleans, LA, US
2013, Curator’s Lab Grant, Manual History Machines, Fellows of Contemporary Art
2012, Artist Selection Award, KCCLA, Los Angeles, CA, US
2012, Esalen Pacifica Prize Recipient, Big Sur, CA & Vladivostok, Russia
2011, Tournesol Award Finalist, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA, US
2010, Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, New York, NY, US
2007, Max L. Gatov Award, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, US
2007 Merit Award, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, USVisiting Artist Lecturer
2025, Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Long Beach, US
2024, California State University, Long Beach, CA, US
2024, BYU, Provo, Utah, US
2023, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA, US
2023, UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts, Irvine, CA, US
2021, SUNY Purchase College, Purchase, NY, US
2021, Anderson Ranch, Snow Mass, CO, US
2019, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Milwaukee, WI, US
2017, California State University Dominguez Hills, US
2011, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, US
2010, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA, US -
WorksNo works available.
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Exhibitions
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Rema Ghuloum
Waking Dream, Reflected Light., 2025Oil and acrylic gouache on canvas
121.9 x 137.2 cm
48 x 54 in -
Rema Ghuloum
The sound of a mountain as an ocean, 2022Oil and acrylic gouache on canvas
182.9 x 259.1 cm
72 x 102 in -
Rema Ghuloum
Facade (yellow-orange), 2025Oil and acrylic gouache on canvas
111.8 x 111.8 cm
44 x 44 in -
Rema Ghuloum
Sacred Morning , 2025Oil and acrylic gouache on canvas
259.1 x 182.9 cm
102 x 72 in
Press -
