Nahem Shoa

Other works By 2007, Shoa had established himself as an artist invested in representing British ethnic drew the larger-than-life phase of Shoa's work to a close. Some of his later works included composite imagery of catastrophes, such as floods, nuclear disasters Curator Isobel Johnstone described these works thusly: "Most recently Shoa made another dramatic move — from a tangible kind of reality to something quite intangible – where, contrary to all previous methods of working, accident was allowed to prompt imagination." These solo shows in 2004 and 2005 broke previous attendance records at each gallery.

Also in 2006, Shoa had a solo exhibition titled Facing Yourself at Bury Art Gallery. Facing Yourself exhibited 25 oil paintings of people of varying ethnic backgrounds, including both Black and mixed-race subjects. The heads were 15 times larger than life, eliciting this reaction from Culture24 art critic Kay Carson: "espite the grandiose scale, the mood is quite the opposite: muted, dignified and very personal."

In 2007, he featured in the group exhibition True To Life at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, with his work alongside that of fellow Realist painters Frank Auerbach, David Bomberg, Lucian Freud, and Robert Lenkiewicz.

In April and May 2010, Shoa's Giant Head of Ben was included in In Thy Face I See, a group show at Hartlepool Art Gallery focused on portraiture.

In 2013, Shoa contributed drawings for a group exhibition for the House of the Nobleman group exhibition Paper Vernacular: Drawings & Constructions, part of the Cutlog art festival in New York.

In April 2014, his Giant Head of Ben was shown alongside Lucian Freud's Head of a Woman as part of the exhibition Face to Face: Portraits Past and Present at Hartlepool Art Gallery.

Reception Critical reception

David Whetstone, writing in The Journal, called Shoa's work "extraordinary", characterized him as "approach[ing] the planes and gradients of the face as a landscape painter would an appealing view" and noted his commitment to artistic representation of cultural diversity. She also contrasted how while a Shoa portrait seen up close "appears to be abstract because of the amount of texture and color layered onto the canvas, [... when the viewer steps back] a realist portrait appears with the personality of the sitter emerging". and 2007's Artists in Britain Since 1945, by David Buckman.

In 2007, Giant Head of Ben was one of five finalists in a resident vote for which Hartlepool-held artworks should be included in the town's new virtual gallery.

Talks and publications In 1994, some of Shoa's work was published as part of Drawing Figures, an art-instruction text published in association with the Royal Academy of Arts.

Nahem Shoa has given several lectures about his mentor Robert Lenkiewicz, including 2007's "Close reading with Nahem Shoa", at the Novas Gallery,

Shoa's essay, "You Offer Me a Dead Rose, May I Give You a Dead Rat?" was included in the book Robert Lenkiewicz: Self Portraits 2008.

The Ben Uri Gallery hosted an exhibition from 26 September–14 December 2008 titled Robert Lenkiewicz — The Self-Portraits (1956–2002), as a part of which Shoa gave a lecture entitled "Under The Influence".

In 2012, The Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery invited Shoa to be a member of their Contemporary Arts Panel, serving as a consultant to RAMM for the promotion of contemporary art exhibitions.

In 2014, Shoa gave his lecture "Paradise Found" at Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery as part of the exhibition Detached and Timeless, which included paintings by David Bomberg, Prunella Clough, Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon, and Clare Woods. Shoa's lecture explored the various approaches used by these painters to depict the landscape of Britain's southwest.

Awards and prizes Manchester City Art Gallery Under 30s Show, first prize, 1989 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award, 1994