Kufi was born 1962 in Baghdad, Iraq and spent his early childhood there. He studied at the Baghdad Institute of Fine Arts, graduating in 1985. He left Iraq in 1990 and settled in the Netherlands in 1994 and studied graphic design there. He now divides his time between the Netherlands and Cairo.
Nedim Kufi’s work often compares Middle Eastern and European culture through images and thoughts vested in ambiguity and paradox. Kufi seeks gaps internationally within rationality, similarity and contraction. A strong believer in minimalism, Kufi hopes to influence the audience’s perception through repetition and overlapping structures. He aims at reminding the viewers of their identities, cognition and social experiences.
Through his recent works, Kufi manifests the narration of cultural identity in a historic dimension, he underwent a long journey of drawing and re-editing of Islamic art patterns, most of his works are a reference of that influence and an expression of the pride he puts into that history. To him, Alhambra is not only an inspiring place and an artwork but also a lifestyle, with which he fostered the development of a distinctive method with his own unique artistic language.
His work is not based under one flag, its spirit is completely free and open, changing under circumstances. It is completely beyond the concept of identifying or any other belonging. Kufi believes that art is the solution and communicator, it is created with passion and a bilingual vision.