Meet the Two Partners in the Afghan Art Story...

Rachel writes this,"I had lived in Kabul since 2000, when my husband and I first moved there with our 3-month old baby boy. By 2008, I figured there was no art I really liked in Afghanistan, I had wondered for over eight years where the fine art was in Afghanistan.  Was no one producing it? Or are there no artists in Afghanistan?”

Then one day in 2007, my driver turned onto Chicken Street, and I saw the most gorgeous oil painting in the window of a shop.  I had never noticed this shop before!  I went in and met Mr. Karim, the shop owner. As I talked with this extremely polite gentleman in English, I was simply stunned...the intricate and creative paintings in the shop were beautiful!   I walked around Karim's art gallery and was reminded of Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Degas - the influence of the classical European masters with an Afghan twist. 

Karim is the Bamyan Fine Art Gallery owner.  He opened the gallery in 2007. He had assisted Mr. Shukoor, his uncle at many of Shukoor's art exhibitions.  This led him to see the need for Afghan artists to have a place to display and sell their work. He opened a shop on Chicken Street, the most famous tourist shopping street in Afghanistan. Before 2021, the Bamyan Fine Art Gallery displayed mainly the art of the top Artists in Afghanistan. Now, it is entirely online. Works may be purchased and sent from Istanbul or the United States. 

While the National Gallery does have art from many top Afghan artists, the Bamyan Fine Art Gallery and website is fast becoming the main source for accessing the top contemporary fine art in Afghanistan, following the developing art movements, and learning about the training available for developing young talent 

Mr. Karim was born in Kabul in 1974, but left Kabul in 1996 during the fighting.  He remained in India until he married his Afghan wife in the late '90's. He lived in Kabul with his wife and children until August of 2021, when they fled to Turkey. They are still displaced, looking for a permanent country to call home, but having the Bamyan Fine Art Gallery online once more brings him joy as he sees the art being made by his friends being enjoyed by Ambassadors, diplomatic personnel, soldiers, aid workers, and even tourists!  He is a consummate international business man, and worked on numerous businesses in Kabul before August of 2021.

The passion, sorrow, beauty in these paintings express the hidden beauty of the Afghan soul.  Even the horror of the wars of the past thirty years had not prevented these artists from painting beauty around them!

Rachel doesn't pretend to be an art expert - her undergraduate degrees are in Biology and Education, and she holds a Masters in Education. She enjoys working with Karim and all the artists.  They have all been exceptionally gracious with her incredibly bad Dari, and together are enjoying figuring out how to tell the story of Fine Art in Afghanistan.  Her husband and children have their favorite paintings of the artists, but we aren't telling - don't want to cause any problems!

Here you will find as much as we can offer about the modern fine art history of Afghanistan. If you are an Afghan artist of any medium, please contact us and we are happy to consider sharing your art here.