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Sculpture on Paper
Jacaranda Gallery, October 2025
Above all, Samer Tabbaa is a sculptor.
Whether working in stone, bronze, or within the margins of a notebook, his impulse is always to transcend the flatness of the surface. In his hands, drawing is not a precursor to sculpture, it is sculpture.
Mazes of line and texture fill sketchbooks, each mark pushing toward a third dimension, each scribble an attempt to escape the confinement of the page. Each stroke attempts to create something that has never existed before.
“I am not a painter; I am a sculptor doing sculpture on the wall.”
This ethos defines his entire practice, where the boundary between two and three dimensions is continuously blurred. His drawings do not lie flat; they rise, twist, and move, echoing the forms of chisels and casting, guided by the same tactile curiosity that informs his physical works. His sculptures interact with their surroundings, bending light and creating shadows that themselves become part of the work.
These in-between moments, which are easily dismissed as mundane by most, become sites of reflection and quiet creation in Tabbaa’s oeuvre. They emerge most clearly in times of constraint, once defined by limited materials, and now, by the limitations of his own body.
“In transient spaces, I made sketches, these sketches grew into sculptures, these sculptures were placed in transient spaces.”
His drawings reflect a poetic cycle of movement, repetition, and return, pushing through any limitations that may stand in their way.
Tabbaa’s work speaks to the fundamental human desire to leave a mark, to shape space and be shaped by it. Each line, each panel of paper pulp is a tactile meditation on presence. In his sculptures on paper, his most fleeting moments are grounded. Every mark bears the gravity of form.
In this exhibition, Sculpture on Paper, displays a constellation of sculptures on paper, developed over decades. In digging through Tabbaa’s archive and recalling the moments when paper was the absolute vessel for production- it became clear to highlight, as Tabbaa puts it- the first encounter with art and mark-making is drawing on paper.
This exhibition invites audiences and creative practitioners to consider the value of archival material, the sketches, the drafts and the ephemera, not just as departure points for other works, or the idle mundane, but as the most intrinsic co-creations with materials.
The curated collection includes; large scale drawings, paper pulp sculptures, sketches made in a hotel room, pages from sketchbooks and fiberglass sculptures, and one site-specific work, responding directly to Jacaranda Gallery’s Street facing window.
Samer Tabbaa is a sculptor based in Amman, Jordan. His practice explores materiality in a way that is collaborative, exhaustive and spiritual. Working with elements such as wood, metal, stone and pigments, and occasionally, paper, Tabbaa’s approach is consistent, anchored and harmonious. His labour intensive and patient investment in the process can be seen in how delicate, worked and kneaded and yet how physically robust his pieces are.
Born in Taif, Saudi Arabia (1945), Tabbaa is inspired by the vastness, simplicity and symmetry of the desert and other natural scapes. He earned his MFA in Sculpture from Kent State University (1979), his BFA in Fine Arts (1976) and his BA in Sociology and Anthropology (1973), both from Youngstown State University. With very little prior experience in the visual arts, pursuing his degrees was a pivoting and life-changing trajectory, and he has since been practicing and contributing to the art world.
Tabbaa has held solo exhibitions at Karim Gallery, Amman, Jordan (2022), Nabad Art Gallery, Amman, Jordan (2012), Cuadro Art Gallery, Dubai, UAE (2008), AlBareh Gallery, Manama, Bahrain (2005), 4Walls Gallery Amman, Jordan (2002), Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan (1994), Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan (1988, 1980).
He has participated in group exhibitions and biennials including; 6, 7th and 8th Asian Art Biennale, Dhaka, Bangladesh,, 5th Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE, AlBareh Gallery, Manama, Bahrain, Cuadro Gallery, Dubai UAE, Hotel De Villa, Paris, France.
He has participated in residencies and sculpture symposiums including; Barehands Residency, Amman, Jordan, (2017), Assilah Arts Festival, Morocco (1981), Festival International Des Arts Plastiques de Mahres, Tunisia, (1992) Rachana Sculpture Symposium, Aley, Lebanon.
He has presented public art commissions in the King Khaled International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the 2nd Circle, Amman, Jordan.
His works are held in the private collections of the Barjeel Foundation, Sharjah, UAE, Brown University, USA; Deutsche Bank, Geneva, Switzerland; Darat Al Funun, Amman, Jordan; and the National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan.
