Hiba Kalache

Hiba Kalache is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice spans installation, drawing, painting, sculpture and interactive projects. 

Born in Beirut, she received a Master of Fine Arts degree from California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2005. Today she lives between the two cities. 

Kalache draws on her daily life for her materials, process and content, in particular issues relating to displacement, heritage and identity, from a female perspective and against the regional geopolitical landscape, having been uprooted more than once from her birthplace. 

Her abstract compositions take the form of soft washes of acrylic ink, interjected with hallmark bursts of bright colour, which veer off in different directions across the canvas. Curved and straight lines sometimes provide links and connections, but, at other times, remain suspended in isolation, in a reminder that life is multi-faceted, complex and fragile, and both memories and experiences quickly become fragmented. 

Kalache’s work has been exhibited widely worldwide. Her recent solo exhibitions include: ‘Belliphonic’, Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco (2023); ‘Our Dreams are a Second Life’, Saleh Barakat Art Gallery, Beirut (2020-2021); ‘Encounters’, Upper Gallery, Saleh Barakat Art Gallery, Beirut (2020) ; ‘Lemonade Everything Was So Infinite’, Saleh Barakat Art Gallery, Beirut (2018); ‘Alternate Worlds’, The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space, Beirut (2012); and ‘Under a Beautiful Sky’, FFA Private Bank, The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space, Beirut (2012).

She has also taken part in numerous group shows, including, most recently: ‘It’s an Ancient Game’, The Upper Gallery, Saleh Barakat Art Gallery (2023); ‘Lumières du Liban’, Institut du Monde Arabe/Museum, Paris (2021); ‘Cities under Quarantine’, The Mailbox Project, Villa Romana, Florence (2021); ‘Thirty Years and Moving Forward’, Saleh Barakat Art Gallery, Beirut (2021); Menart Fair, Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris (2021); ‘We Shall Continue’, Open Minds Charity Auction, Artscoops (2021); ‘From Beirut’, Art+Design Scene, Piasa, Auction House, Paris (2020); ‘Go Back Forward’, NYUAD Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi (2019); ‘Life Beyond’, Philips Auction House, London (2020); ‘Women of Resilience’, Tsichritzis Art Foundation, Athens (2019); ‘Nothing but Flowers’, Saleh Barakat Art Gallery, Beirut (2019); ‘Out of Context’, Saleh Barakat Art Gallery, Beirut (2019); The 45th Bahrain Fine Arts Exhibition (2019); ‘Break All Frames’, Beit Beirut Museum (2018); Abu Dhabi Art Fair (2018); ‘The Horror, The Horror, The Horror’, AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery, Beirut (2018); Beirut Art Fair (2017); ‘Mimesis Expression Construction’, AUB Art Galleries, Saleeby Museum, Beirut (2016); ‘Heartland’, Beirut Exhibition Centre (2015); Art Dubai (2014); ‘Syri-Arts’, Auction of Art from the Middle East and Beyond, Beirut Exhibition Centre (2013); ‘Journeys Through our Heritage’, Beirut Exhibit Centre (2013); Art Dubai (2013); ‘Drawing Now Paris’, The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space, Paris (2013); Watercolor Biennial, Alfredo Guati Rojo National Watercolor Museum, Mexico City (2012); Art Gwangju, South Korea (2012); ‘Art is the Answer’, The Boghossian Foundation, Brussels (2012); Art Dubai (2012); ‘In the Trenches’, The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space, Beirut (2011); ‘Rebirth’, Beirut Exhibition Centre (2011); Slick Art Fair Paris (2010); Bastakiya Art Fair, Dubai (2010); ‘Counting Thoughts’, The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space, Beirut (2010); and ‘Soft Sculpture or The Ordinary Interpreted’, The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space, Paris (2010).

Kalache has also taught Fine Arts at the Lebanese American University.