Aboud Fares (b. 1988, Damascus) is a sculptor based in Penang, Malaysia. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sculpture from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Damascus University (2010), and has been working as a full-time artist since relocating to Malaysia in 2015. His practice primarily engages with iron and steel, exploring abstraction, balance, and the quiet tension between form and emptiness.
Alongside traditional metalwork, Fares has, in recent years, incorporated 3D printing and digital fabrication into his practice. These processes are used not as replacements for hand-built sculpture, but as tools for experimentation—allowing forms to be tested, fragmented, repeated, or scaled before, during, or beyond their physical realization. This hybrid approach reflects an ongoing interest in how technology can extend sculptural thinking.
His sculptural language moves between autonomous artworks and functional forms, often blurring the boundary between object and presence. His recent explorations also include digital and augmented reality works, expanding how sculpture can be experienced beyond physical space.
In 2025, he founded MassHaus, a studio and art gallery conceived as both a working space and a platform for exhibitions, experimentation, and dialogue. MassHaus reflects Fares’ interest in process, scale, and community, serving as a site where making, showing, and exchanging ideas coexist.
His work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Malaysia and internationally, and has been featured in regional media. Rather than prescribing meaning, Fares’ sculptures invite open interpretation, encouraging viewers to encounter the work on their own terms.
Exhibitions:
Solo Exhibitions
- 2025 Gaze Down, Float Up, MassHaus Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2023 Echoes, Artas Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 2022 NOW Solo AR Exhibition, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2019 UNTiiTLED, China House, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2018 Faces, Keeni Kessler KKG (Pinghub), Malaysia.
- 2016 Untitled Solo Exhibition, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
Group Exhibitions
- 2025 Borderless Voices: Expanding Horizons, Artemis Art @ ChinaHouse, Penang, Malaysia
- 2025 1000 Tiny Art Works, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2025 This Is ____, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2025 Convergence, Artemis Art @ Nalarroepa Ruang Seni, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- 2023 Lembaran Exhibition, Artas Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 2023 Off Spaces In Between, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, and Zhan Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 2022 Tu7oh Exhibition, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, and Temu House, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 2021 Langur Exhibition, Penang State Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2020 BOXED IN (one foot at a time), Online and Onsite at Hin Bus Depot, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2020 Belang Exhibition, Penang State Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2019 The 8’’ by 6’’ Project II, City Hall and KL Performing Arts Centre Gallery Space, part of Gallery Weekend KL, Malaysia.
- 2019 Kecik – Kecik Group Exhibition, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2019 The 8” x 6” Project Exhibition, Project 26 Art Space, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2019 BOLD Exhibition, The Backyard (artist’s Workshop), Penang, Malaysia.
- 2019 REKA Exhibition, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
- 2019 3 Elements Group Exhibition, Penang State Gallery (State Museum), Penang, Malaysia.
- 2019 ArtEDecor Art Fair, MATRADE Exhibition & Convention Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 2017 Revisit Exhibition, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia.
Media Coverage:
“Facing” Abstract Creatures Makes Them Relatable in Penang / Penangmonthly.com
George Town artist introduces a new way of exhibiting 3D art through AR / Malaymail.com
Syrian artist looking for a more human connection in latest Penang exhibition / Malaymail.com
Why cultural assimilation is important for this Penang based Syrian sculptor / Penangartdistrict.com
10 things about: Aboud Fares, iron sculptor / Malaymail.com
