Aboud Fares (b. 1988, Damascus) is an artist 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. While rooted in sculpture, his practice engages with iron and steel, exploring abstraction, balance, and the quiet tension between form and emptiness.
Alongside his metal sculptures, Aboud 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 work moves between autonomous sculptures, installation-based projects, and functional forms, often blurring the boundary between object and presence. Recent explorations have also included digital and augmented reality works, expanding how sculpture can be experienced beyond physical space and reflecting an increasingly multidisciplinary approach to making.
In 2025, he founded MassHaus, a studio and gallery space conceived as both a working space and a platform for exhibitions, experimentation, and dialogue. MassHaus reflects Aboud’s 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. His sculptures and installations are held in the collections of several museums, private institutions, and collectors in Malaysia and abroad. Rather than prescribing meaning, Aboud’s work invites open interpretation, encouraging viewers to encounter the work on their own terms.
Exhibitions:
Solo Exhibitions
2026
- On My Mind, MassHaus, Penang, Malaysia
2025
- Gaze Down, Float Up, MassHaus, Penang, Malaysia
2023
- Echoes, Artas Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2022
- NOW (Solo AR Exhibition), Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
2019
- UNTiiTLED, ChinaHouse, Penang, Malaysia
2018
- Faces, Keeni Kessler KKG (Pinghub), Malaysia
2016
- Untitled, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
Group Exhibitions
2026
- Silhouettes (with James Seet), Harta Space, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- AArt Shanghai City Art Fair, Artemis Art, Shanghai, China.
- 2026 Art Fair Philippines, Artemis Art, Manila, Philippines.
2025
- Borderless Voices: Expanding Horizons, Artemis Art @ ChinaHouse, Penang, Malaysia
- Convergence, Artemis Art @ Nalarroepa Ruang Seni, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- 1000 Tiny Art Works, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
- This Is ____, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
2023
- Lembaran Exhibition, Artas Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Off Spaces In Between, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang & Zhan Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2022
- Tu7oh Exhibition, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang & Temu House, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2021
- Langur Exhibition, Penang State Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
2020
- BOXED IN (One Foot at a Time), Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery & Online, Penang, Malaysia
- BELANG Exhibition, Penang State Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
2019
- The 8″ by 6″ Project II, City Hall & KL Performing Arts Centre, Gallery Weekend KL, Malaysia
- Kecik-Kecik Group Exhibition, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
- The 8″ × 6″ Project, Project 26 Art Space, Penang, Malaysia
- REKA Exhibition, Hin Bus Depot Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
- 3 Elements Group Exhibition, Penang State Art Gallery, Penang, Malaysia
- ArtEDecor Art Fair, MATRADE Exhibition & Convention Centre, 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
