Adnan Charara

The world of artist Adnan Charara is one of whimsy and color, intricately populated with doodle-like objects and humorous figures imbued with very serious and universal meanings. Born in 1962 to Lebanese parents, Adnan grew up in Sierra Leone, attended boarding school in Lebanon and immigrated to the United States at age 19 to study architecture, for which he eventually received a B.F.A. from the Massachusetts College of Art. Now with a studio in Detroit, Mich., Adnan devotes the bulk of his time to the task of creating in several media types, including sculpture, drawing and painting.

“I never had doubt in my mind that I wanted to be an artist,” Adnan said, describing art as his mode of communication. “When I was little I used to hide under the bed to draw … I didn’t want to do my homework.”

Adnan said his mission as an artist is to speak about culture, and much of his work is a commentary on the experience of the immigrant, and the assimilating process of living in America.