Caricatures

Trained as a painter, Sharif first received critical recognition for his figurative images. Between 1970 and 1979, he applied his compositional skills to drafting caricatures for a variety of Emirati newspapers and magazines. Using his platform to critique both the United States’ foreign policy in the Middle East as well as the changing economic realities of everyday life after the formal establishment of the UAE, Sharif’s images have an immediacy and irreverence that makes their outspoken commentary all the more compelling. As curator and founding Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation Hoor al Qasimi observes, “Although Sharif eventually abandoned caricature, these works chronicle the social and political shifts that shaped the contemporary structure of the UAE as well as the worldview behind Sharif’s future work.”