Meem Gallery is pleased to present the third part of five exhibitions displaying contemporary Iraqi art this February. Curated by Dia Al-Azzawi, Art in Iraq Today: Part III will exhibit the work of Himat Ali, Amar Dawod and Delair Shaker. The exhibition, and its supporting catalogue, is dedicated to the memory of Jabra Ibrahim Jabra and his seminal essays on modern Iraqi art, titled ‘Art in Iraq Today.’
Part IV (Mar – Apr 2011), will exhibit the work of modern masters Dia Al-Azzawi, Rafa Al-Nasiri and Ali Talib. Part V (Apr – May), the work of Ali Jaber, Halim Al-Kareem, Sadik Kwaish and Mahmud Obaidi. Part I, held in October 2010, exhibited the recent work of Modhir Ahmed, Nedim Kufi and Hanaa Malallah; and Part II, which was held in November 2010, displayed the work of Ghassan Ghaib, Kareem Risan and Nazar Yahya.
HIMAT M. ALI
Himat M. Ali’s (b. Karkuk, 1960) recent solo exhibitions include displays at the Sharif Exhibition Hall, Tunis, 2008, Nabad Hall, Amman, 2010, and Dar Al Funoon, Kuwait, 2010. He has also participated in group exhibitions including Iraqi Artists in Exile, Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, 2008, and Modernism and Iraq, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 2009. In 2008, he and Japanese poet and writer, Gotaro Tsunezumi worked on a project, titled Flowers from the Sky, together at the 5 Lines Contemporary Art Gallery in Amman.
His awards include the Appreciation Award, Youth Festival, Bagdad, 1983; Award in Graphics, Wasiti Festival, Bagdad, 1985; and First Award, Wasiti Festival, Bagdad, 1989. Ali creates mixed media works on handmade paper based on nature, particularly the motif of the flower. He states: ‘In the flower, I have found my little fairies. They do not utter a sound, yet, they speak all the possible languages.’ In 2008, he created a steel mural, exhibited at Nabad Gallery in Amman. He lives in Paris.
AMAR DAWOD
Amar Dawod (b. Baghdad, 1957) has held solo exhibitions in Sweden, Poland and Jordan including Gallery Linjen, Västervik, Falun City Library, Falun, Art Academy, Lodz, and Karim Gallery, Amman. He has participated in numerous international group exhibitions including Graphics Triennial 11, Krakow, 1986; Relief, Plan, Images, Centre de la Gravure et de L’image imprimée, La Louvière, 1994; A propos de ‘La Résurrection’ de Piero della Francesca, Musée du Petit format, Sansepolcro, Tuscany and Viroinval, 2003; Contemporary Iraqi Book Art, University of North Texas Art Gallery, Denton, Texas, 2005; and Contemporary Iraqi Art, Pomegranate Gallery, Soho, New York, 2007.
Dawod studied at the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad and received an MA from the Art Academy, Lodz, in 1987. He has also studied Animation at the Animations House in Eksjö. His awards include Mention Honorifique, Krakow, 1984; Mention Honorifique, Krakow, 1986; and Graphics Triennial Award, Fredrikstad, 1989. Regarding his art, Dawod states: ‘Painting…is a kind of liberation and thrilling road, even if that road is sometimes bumpy.’ He lives in Västervik.
DELAIR SHAKER
Delair Shaker (b. Baghdad, 1971) studied ceramics at the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad. His solo exhibitions include The Journey, Solo Art Exhibition, Private Hall, Amman, 2006; Traces of Time, Karim Gallery, Amman, 2008; Tales of Flames, and Olney Room Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona, 2010. International group exhibitions include Al Wasiti Art Festival, Baghdad, 1992, where he won an award for his work; Homage to Shaker Hassan and Ismail Fattah, Athar Gallery, Baghdad, 2004; From Baghdad to New York: Part II of the Iraqi Phoenix Group, Pomegranate Gallery, New York, 2006; Modernism and Iraq, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 2009; and Sand Trails, Paul Scott Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, 2011.
Shaker is the son of prominent ceramicist Saad Shaker (b. Baghdad, 1935-2005) and emigrated to Phoenix, Arizona in 2005, where he lives and works today. Regarding the work he will be exhibiting at Meem, he states: ‘I use form and perceived mass as a metaphor of not only my own journey as an Iraqi artist, but as the journey of my father’s country which I saw in flames.’
