Karim Hamid

If there is a single subject that pervades Karim Hamid’s oeuvre, it is the way in which the female body is idealized and consumed in classical art history and contemporary culture. “It is about the thing/person being observed,” Hamid writes, “as well as the method of being observed.” In his paintings, the female figure is usually distorted and exaggerated as a means of criticizing the superficial way women are presented in history and in the media. Hamid culls these images of women from a variety of sources, including his own photos, art historically significant paintings, anonymous found images, pornography, and contemporary advertisements.