Born in Cape Town and raised on a remote farm without electricity, Abdus Salaam first engaged with art by painting and sculpting with natural materials in the mountains alongside his mother. At the age of ten, he moved unexpectedly to Los Angeles, where his formative years were immersed in the arts, extreme sports, and the layered realities of Western culture. A self-taught artist, Salaam draws deep inspiration from natural beauty, ecology, and spirituality. His practice reflects a sensitivity to the metaphysical qualities of nature, materials, form, and color.
Salaam is a keen investigator of time—both intimate and cosmic—and the connections between planetary, communal, and personal states. Contemporary
in his mystic abstraction and surreal expression, his work often begins with his own poetry, calling forth a sense of peace and longing. He explores themes of oneness and vulnerability, using the material to access the immaterial, always working alone to embed intention in every fiber of the piece.
Recent highlights include solo exhibitions at the Nirox Foundation (Johannesburg, 2024) and Abu Dhabi Art (2024), as well as participation in prominent international art fairs such as Enter Art Fair (Denmark), AKAA (Paris), and Investec Cape Town Art Fair. In 2023, he was a resident at the Institute for Public Architecture in New York City, and received the Art Figura Sculpture Prize nomination in Germany. His upcoming 2025 schedule includes solo shows in Italy (Galleria Giovanni Bonelli), group exhibitions in South Africa, and participation in the University of Pretoria’s major exhibition, The One And The Many.
