Ben Abounassif

Ben Abounassif (born 1964, Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan artist of Lebanese parentage who lives and works between Caracas and Beirut. His practice is rooted in geometric abstraction: intricate compositions in paper and acrylic paint, and in metal, that explore pattern, movement and optical perception, alongside photographic cubes and all-acrylic digital-cut series.

He graduated from Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tennessee, in 1987 with a B.A. in Business Management. His first contact with the art world came in 2006, when he co-founded Leiter Gallery in Miami with the Cuban-born, Miami-based artist Sinuhe Vega Leiter and the Venezuelan internationalist and journalist Jesús Rojas Torres, a short but successful venture and the only gallery in the United States to pay a living tribute to the Cuban musician Israel "Cachao" López. Working closely with local artists, visiting their studios and launching exhibitions at Leiter's shaped his own creative path.

In 2007 Abounassif showed his first art cube at Photo Miami with Hardcore Contemporary Art Space in Wynwood, and in 2008 the Miami dealer Harvey Oxenberg presented his Piece of Love series at Bridge Art Fair during Art Basel week. In 2011 his all-acrylic digital-cut series travelled with the gallerist Aldo Castillo to the American Pavilion of the Shanghai Art Fair, and in 2013 Castillo presented his geometric series as a solo installation at the second edition of ArtSpot at Spectrum Miami. In 2014 his Homage to Sofía Imber was shown at the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts gala in the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center, New York.

In Venezuela his geometric works on paper are in high demand: at his first two appearances at the Feria Iberoamericana de Arte (FIA) in 2013 and 2014 with Galería Parenthesis, works sold before the fair officially opened. He has since shown with GBGArts in Caracas, Galería Viloria Blanco in Maracaibo, South Border Gallery at the Beirut Art Fair and Mark Hachem Gallery at fairs in Paris, Mexico City, Dubai, Palm Beach and Miami, and he was selected for the 68th Salón Arturo Michelena. His work is contributed regularly to charity auctions and fundraisers for nonprofits in Caracas and Florida, where it draws strong bidding from collectors. It has been featured online through Eclectic Network's websites since 2007 and in print in Hábitat Plus Florida and Ocean Drive Magazine Venezuela.