Naso Interviews: Hisham Sharif
On Intuition, Risk, and What the Work Gives Back
“I allow the painting to take over me until it psychologically changes me.”
Hisham Sharif’s practice is guided by an attentiveness to what a painting gives back over time. Across his recent work, the studio becomes a space of reflection and risk, where each painting unfolds through looking, return, and a willingness to alter or undo what has already been made.
At the centre of this process is a deep commitment to intuition. Sharif speaks of painting as something that moves through him, shifting not only the image, but also the person making it.
On the Work Giving Back
“I think an artist must be very true with themselves,” he says, “and what they are really receiving back from the work.”
This exchange appears through what Sharif describes as “subtle signals”: whether the canvas keeps “inviting” him back, or whether he begins to feel that he has “had enough.”
“I never wanted to become like a brand,” he says.
On Risk and Patience
For Sharif, risk begins with the willingness to move beyond what is already familiar. In the studio, risk is not an abstract idea, but a material decision.
His approach, he explains, is “to risk demolishing what I’ve done in the hopes of getting to a better result later.”
“Maybe today I can’t do anything,” he says. “I have to sit back and look.”
In these moments, looking becomes part of the work itself. The painting is given enough time for its next direction to become visible.
On The Mistake
A key work in this transition is The Mistake (2025), a painting Sharif identifies as a link between his interior scenes and the newer works moving toward landscape and animal forms.
“That’s the portal,” he says, “from taking it from the interior into the outdoors.”
The painting holds many of the tensions that continue to shape Sharif’s practice, particularly his interest in masculinity and femininity as they are expressed through relationships.
On Landscape and a New Visual Field
During the pandemic, he spent time observing parts of his native Bahrain that people often pass over, drawn to what he describes as the “old island feel.”
For him, landscape has given the work “something new to play with,” allowing figure and atmosphere to interact in less direct ways.
This openness has also allowed Sharif to introduce what he describes as “this kind of surreal way of abstracting things,” a shift that has “released a lot of tension” and “loosened” him within the work.
On Inheritance
Inheritance holds an important place in Sharif’s understanding of his practice, shaping how he thinks about what an artist receives, carries forward, and comes to understand differently over time.
His relationship with his father, the artist Abdulrahim Sharif, is central to this. Their daily conversations around art have become a form of education, shaping how he understands risk, discipline, and the demands of painting.
“I had an unofficial MFA at home,” he says.
More recently, Sharif has also begun thinking about inheritance through material. He speaks of using garments belonging to his mother, particularly patterned dresses, as possible elements within future works. These fabrics open a way for personal presence to enter the work through objects shaped by use and daily life.
The full feature will be exclusively available in Issue 3 of Naso Art Journal, releasing very soon.
Written by Nayla. Images courtesy of the artist. All written content copyright of Naso Art Journal.