Modhir Ahmed
Encyclopedia
The artistic journey of Iraqi-Swedish artist Modhir Ahmed coincided with the sweeping political changes of Iraq and Poland in the mid-1980s and concluded in Sweden, the country that has opened scores of new opportunities for the young determined artist.
was the leading movement in the art world. As a student, he was very much a product of his time. The time when Shaker Hassan Said, Iraq’s most influential artist, gave rise to the first enunciation of Iraq’s artistic heritage transformed into modern art’s visual language – from the wealth of Mesopotamia
to the beauty and light of the horizon to ordinary Arabic domestic elements.
As a result of his enthusiasm on this revolutionary concept, young Modhir would spend his leisure time at the national museum drawing and discovering the basic principles of abstract and minimalism – a place where he would derive modern art’s concept of creative imagination. It involved the artist recovering the innocence of a child’s vision, a naiveté which is founded on thorough competence, and above all individuality. He created randon drawings driven by his intuition whilst listening to “maqam” and Iraqi
poetry.
Like other Baghdadi artists of his generation who looked up to their mentors, the impression left by his Polish
professors and the impact and prominence of Polish poster art, inspired Modhir to further his studies in Poland
, the centre of the print world to master graphic arts. Because Polish institutional infrastructure was based on artistic merit rather than commercial viability, Modhir enjoyed that period of upheaval and experimentation. The scarcity of art materials taught him to be resourceful and discover new materials and techniques to create art. He considered it as freedom – to paint without the limitation of economics and rules. Moving further away from Minimalism while retaining a minimal look, Modhir arrives at a kind of extroverted maximalism – a prelude to the directions in which his art would go in the future.
After completing five years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
, Modhir’s sheer ambition and energy would carry him to Sweden
– where the unparalleled social freedom, material prosperity, and mass communication would give him room to create and breathe.
Upon arrival, he studied Computer Graphics
in Skövde
to enhance his printmaking techniques. Bringing with him firsthand knowledge of the European avant garde, it was time for him to begin an unfettered career. He landed a job as director of The Print Workshop in Falun
, Sweden’s oldest and most equipped print workshop that hosts printmaking activities for the local community and visitors alike. The country’s wealth of materials enabled him to create a non-toxic environment with endless possibilities to experiment on various and new print making techniques that would attract printmakers from all over the world.
As his oeuvre matured, Modhir’s art has gone through several phases while still sustaining a consistent yet remarkable evolution. His travels resulted in a hybrid style – a roundup of abstract
or near-abstract artworks in print
, drawing
and mix medium – combined modernist structure with two-dimensional elements and stirring automatism
into the mix. Along with free forms, he has continued using his early plates intermittently as under-layer up to the present. Now they serve as his signature – invented images as distinctively individual as Modhir Ahmed.
Born in Baghdad
, Iraq
in 1956, Modhir has lived in Sweden since 1989. Over the years, his graphic inventiveness and advance knowledge of hard-ground lithography
won him awards and merits in international graphic art competitions and exhibitions. He is the first Iraqi-Swede to be granted the Karlskoga Nobel Art scholarship
, Karlskoga
, Sweden in 2000 for his contribution to the graphic arts, he has been cited for numerous awards and honours over the years, from Scandinavia
to Poland and from Egypt
to France
and now China
.
In 2007, he did an artist's book on Tomas Tranströmer
’s Galleriet, entitled Vecka nr.II.
His broad and strong foundation on multidisciplinary art provides an excellent background for understanding the various contexts in which Arab artists operate. Together with partner artist/art critic Maria Vivero, he worked on a new project where his academic ability brings to light the artistic evolution of Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
, a Bahraini artist who deserves serious critical attention. A project that Modhir envisaged as one of exceptional quality in both its intellectual and material execution, Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, 40 years of painting, from himself, by himself, for himself (ISBN 978-99901-03-52-6), is a book on the Shaikh's retrospective.
Biography
Modhir Ahmed came of age in the late 1960s. He studied at Baghdad Institute of Fine Arts in the era when MinimalismMinimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
was the leading movement in the art world. As a student, he was very much a product of his time. The time when Shaker Hassan Said, Iraq’s most influential artist, gave rise to the first enunciation of Iraq’s artistic heritage transformed into modern art’s visual language – from the wealth of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
to the beauty and light of the horizon to ordinary Arabic domestic elements.
As a result of his enthusiasm on this revolutionary concept, young Modhir would spend his leisure time at the national museum drawing and discovering the basic principles of abstract and minimalism – a place where he would derive modern art’s concept of creative imagination. It involved the artist recovering the innocence of a child’s vision, a naiveté which is founded on thorough competence, and above all individuality. He created randon drawings driven by his intuition whilst listening to “maqam” and Iraqi
Culture of Iraq
Iraq has one of the world's oldest cultural histories. Iraq is where the Ancient Mesopotamian civilizations were, whose legacy went on to influence and shape the civilizations of the Old World. Culturally, Iraq has a very rich heritage. The country is known for its poets and its painters and...
poetry.
Like other Baghdadi artists of his generation who looked up to their mentors, the impression left by his Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
professors and the impact and prominence of Polish poster art, inspired Modhir to further his studies in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, the centre of the print world to master graphic arts. Because Polish institutional infrastructure was based on artistic merit rather than commercial viability, Modhir enjoyed that period of upheaval and experimentation. The scarcity of art materials taught him to be resourceful and discover new materials and techniques to create art. He considered it as freedom – to paint without the limitation of economics and rules. Moving further away from Minimalism while retaining a minimal look, Modhir arrives at a kind of extroverted maximalism – a prelude to the directions in which his art would go in the future.
After completing five years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw is a public university of visual and applied arts located in the Polish capital. The Academy traces its history back to the Department of Arts founded at the Warsaw University in 1812. As a separate institution it was founded in 1844 during the Partitions of Poland...
, Modhir’s sheer ambition and energy would carry him to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
– where the unparalleled social freedom, material prosperity, and mass communication would give him room to create and breathe.
Upon arrival, he studied Computer Graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
in Skövde
Skövde
Skövde is a locality and the seat of Skövde Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 34 446 inhabitants .Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, between Sweden's two largest lakes, Vänern and Vättern. It sits on the eastern slope of a low mountain ridge Billingen ,...
to enhance his printmaking techniques. Bringing with him firsthand knowledge of the European avant garde, it was time for him to begin an unfettered career. He landed a job as director of The Print Workshop in Falun
Falun
Falun is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 36,447 inhabitants in 2005. It is also the capital of Dalarna County...
, Sweden’s oldest and most equipped print workshop that hosts printmaking activities for the local community and visitors alike. The country’s wealth of materials enabled him to create a non-toxic environment with endless possibilities to experiment on various and new print making techniques that would attract printmakers from all over the world.
As his oeuvre matured, Modhir’s art has gone through several phases while still sustaining a consistent yet remarkable evolution. His travels resulted in a hybrid style – a roundup of abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
or near-abstract artworks in print
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
, drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
and mix medium – combined modernist structure with two-dimensional elements and stirring automatism
Automatism
Automatism may refer to:*Automatic behavior, spontaneous verbal or motor behavior; an act performed unconsciously. Defendants have been found not guilty due to an automatism defense ....
into the mix. Along with free forms, he has continued using his early plates intermittently as under-layer up to the present. Now they serve as his signature – invented images as distinctively individual as Modhir Ahmed.
Born in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in 1956, Modhir has lived in Sweden since 1989. Over the years, his graphic inventiveness and advance knowledge of hard-ground lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
won him awards and merits in international graphic art competitions and exhibitions. He is the first Iraqi-Swede to be granted the Karlskoga Nobel Art scholarship
Karlskoga Nobel Art scholarship
The Karlskoga Nobel Art Scholarship is an annual scholarship given to artists in memory of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. In 1996 a Swedish artist by the name of Göran Persson created a portfolio of graphics describing Nobel's life in Karlskoga, Sweden...
, Karlskoga
Karlskoga
Karlskoga is a locality and the seat of Karlskoga Municipality in Örebro County, Sweden with 27,500 inhabitants in 2005.-Geography:It is located at the northern shore of lake Möckeln, and the small settlement was initially called Möckelns bodar...
, Sweden in 2000 for his contribution to the graphic arts, he has been cited for numerous awards and honours over the years, from Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
to Poland and from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and now China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
In 2007, he did an artist's book on Tomas Tranströmer
Tomas Tranströmer
Tomas Gösta Tranströmer is a Swedish writer, poet and translator, whose poetry has been translated into over 60 languages. Tranströmer is acclaimed as one of the most important Scandinavian writers since the Second World War...
’s Galleriet, entitled Vecka nr.II.
His broad and strong foundation on multidisciplinary art provides an excellent background for understanding the various contexts in which Arab artists operate. Together with partner artist/art critic Maria Vivero, he worked on a new project where his academic ability brings to light the artistic evolution of Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa
Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa 40 years of painting cover a diverse range of artistic genres. Realism developed to Impressionism, which gradually evolved to Individualism, a notable prelude to his recent work, a dual concept of Abstract and the Colour Field...
, a Bahraini artist who deserves serious critical attention. A project that Modhir envisaged as one of exceptional quality in both its intellectual and material execution, Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, 40 years of painting, from himself, by himself, for himself (ISBN 978-99901-03-52-6), is a book on the Shaikh's retrospective.
Education
- 1974-79, Institute of Fine Arts-Baghdad, Iraq
- 1981-86, Academy of Fine Arts-Warsaw, Poland
- 1990-91, Computer Graphics- Skövde, Sweden
Selected awards and scholarships
- 1986 Polish Cultural Department Scholarship, Warsaw, Poland
- 1992 The 10th Norwegian International Print Triennial, Fredrikstad, Norway (Jury prize)
- 1995 The 11th Norwegian International Print Triennial, Fredrikstad, Norway (1st prize)
- 1997 The Annie Bergman Graphic Fund, Sweden
- 1999 Schreiters Travel Scholarship in Grafikens Hus, Mariafred, Sweden
- 2000
- Alfred Nobel Art ScholarshipKarlskoga Nobel Art scholarshipThe Karlskoga Nobel Art Scholarship is an annual scholarship given to artists in memory of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. In 1996 a Swedish artist by the name of Göran Persson created a portfolio of graphics describing Nobel's life in Karlskoga, Sweden...
, Karlskoga, Sweden - Xth Józef Gielniak Graphic Art Competition, Jelenia Góra, Poland (Distinction)
- Alfred Nobel Art Scholarship
- 2002 11th International Small Graphic Forms, Lódz, Poland (Medal of Honour)
- 2003 Print Triennale-Kraków-2003, Kraków, Poland (Award of Canson Poland)
- 2006
- 5th Egyptian International Print Triennial, Cairo, Egypt (Triennial prize)
- Award of Andrioll Drawing Competition, Naleczow, Poland
- 7e Triennale De Chamalières, France (Jury prize)
- 2008 13th International Small Graphic Forms, Lódz, Poland (Medal of Honour)
- 2009
- 2nd Guanlan International Print Biennial 2009, Shenzhen, China (Guanlan International Print Prize)
- International Drawing Triennial MANU PROPRIA, 2009, Tallinn, Estonia
- International Print Triennale-Kraków-2009, Kraków, Poland (Statutory Award of the MTG – Kraków 2009)
Selected bibliography
- Ljiljana Cinkul Belgrade, ‘Grafik’ Graficki Kolektiv Gallery, exhibition catalogue, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, February 2005
- Alf Johansson, ‘Lanstinget och kulturen’ Dalarnas Cultural Programme 2005, Dalarnas, Sweden
- Jordi Arko, ‘Maddelanden Foreningen for Grafisk Konst’ National Museum, 2006 ars porfolj, Stockholm, Sweden
- Karin Perers, ‘Rymd. Rytm. Rum.’ Avesta Art 2006, exhibition catalogue, Avesta, Sweden
- Krzysztof Szymanwicz, ‘Salong Ost,’ exhibition catalogue, Rattviks, Sweden, April 2006
- Eva Liden, ‘Falu Konstgrafiska Verkstad 50 Ar,’ exhibition catalogue, Falun, Sweden, April 2006
- Richard Noyce, ‘Printmaking at the Edge’ book about the condition and direction of Print Art, published by A&C Black (London), UK, April 2006, pp. 121–123
- Maria Vivero, ‘Modhir Ahmed’ Bahrain Clientele Magazine issue 10, Bahrain, May 2007, pp. 6–10
- Richard Noyce, ‘Falu Triennalen 2007,’ exhibition catalogue, Falun, August 2007
- Maria Vivero, ‘Portrait of an International Artist ’ Ohlala Magazine, Bahrain, September 2009, pp. 26–31
- Maria Vivero, ‘Iraq:Two faces ’ Two-Man show with Faisel Laibi Sahi, Exhibition catalogue, Bahrain, January 2010
- Arabian Knight Magazine, ‘Taking it to the limits ’ Vol. 12, Issue 4, Bahrain, Autumn 2010
- Meem Gallery ‘Art in Iraq Today - Part 1 ’Exhibition Catalogue, Dubai, UAE, October 2010
External links
- Modhir Ahmed Official website
- Falu Konstgrafiska Verkstad
- iraqhome.8k.com
- karlskoga.se
- Dalarnas Tidningar
- Dalarnas Tidningar
- Miejska Galeria
- Guanlan Prints
- Grafikenshus
- Icondata2008
- Amac-Chamalieres
- Avesta Art
- Artwriter
- Cracow Triennial
- Miasta Gazeta
- Arte
- Nadlanu
- Lodz
- Dalademokraten
- Naslovi
- Abtffn
- Svtplay
- Al Ayam
- Elaph
- Baghdadart
- Wydarzenia
- Bialystok
- Albareh Gallery
- TimeOut Bahrain
- Lagenda
- ILA Magazine
- artBahrain
- artBahrain
- Meem Gallery
- Mondiale Stampe