Rima Chahine

Rima Chahine is a self-taught Lebanese-Canadian abstract painter based in Dubai, UAE. Raised in Montreal, she paints richly coloured canvases in acrylic, built from bold, gestural brushstrokes that still carry the autumn palette of the city she grew up in.

Her subject is the human condition: the emotions and experiences that shape a life. She paints to music and by instinct, letting mood, memory and her surroundings lead the canvas. A finished painting may look nothing like her first idea, but its meaning is settled early and runs through it to the end. Colour carries that meaning. Yellow and orange are happiness, red is passion, green is stillness, blue is healing, and black is sadness held together with strength.

Before painting took over, Rima studied communication, art and business journalism and worked in PR and events. That interest in people shapes how she places her work. "Each painting has a message, a name and an interior," she says, and she likes to help each collector find the one that suits them and the room it is for.

In 2018 she was nominated in three categories at the Global Art Awards, presented at FIVE Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. She has held three solo exhibitions in Dubai: Emotions (2019) and Almaz (2023) at Andakulova Gallery in DIFC, and Euphoria (2023) at The Warehouse in Al Quoz. She has also shown at the Tokyo International Art Fair (2019) and in group exhibitions in Dubai, and her work has been covered by Gulf Today, Arte & Lusso, What's On Dubai and Harper's Bazaar Art.

I am an artist with a passion for self-expression through vibrant colours and abstract forms. My work is a reflection of my innermost emotions and experiences, and I strive to evoke a sense of connection and introspection in the viewer. For me, art is not just a form of expression, but a way of life.