Nedim Kufi (also known as Nadem al-Kufi), born 1962 in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
), is an
Iraqi-
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
multi disciplinary
visual artist
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
. He is primarily known for conceptual art that explores themes such as war, political conflict, exile, loss, and historical memory. Much of his work contains autobiographical elements. He is also a graphic designer and print maker.
Life and career
Kufi was born 1962 in Baghdad, Iraq and spent his early childhood there. He studied at the Bagdhad Institute of Fine Arts, graduating in 1985. He served in the Iraqi military during the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
, and was deeply affected by the atrocities he witnessed.
He left Iraq in 1990 and settled in the Netherlands in 1994 and studied graphic design there. He now divides his time between the Netherlands and Cairo.
Since 2004, he has published the monthly ''Daftar'', an e-publication that features succinct works by artists and writers.
Work
As with many Iraqi artists now living in exile, Kufi's art explores themes such as war and its aftermath, political conflict, exile, loss, and historical memory. Much of his work contains autobiographical elements. He is a multi-disciplinary artist, working as a painter, graphic designer and print maker. He has had more than 20 solo exhibitions, and has been included in scores of group exhibitions that feature leading Iraqi artists of the post-independence period.
Select list of exhibitions
* 2003 ''Dafatir: Contemporary Iraqi Book Art'' curated by Nada Shabout, United States travelling exhibition (group)
* 2003 ''Garden Of Eden'', The Phatory, New York, USA (Group Show)
* 2003 ''Earth and Ink'', Gallery 108, Boston, USA (Solo)
* 2006 ''Attar in Beirut'', Espace SD Gallery, Beirut and Lebanon (Solo)
* 2006 ''The Iraqi Equation'', (group)
* 2007 Rasheed street , Mediamatic , ELHEMA, Amsterdam , Netherlands (Group)
* 2008 ''Soap & Silence'', La Fountain Gallery, Bahrain (Solo)
* 2008–2009 ''Iraqi Artists in Exile'',
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Select list of artworks
* ''Horse'', manipulated digital print, 2008
* ''Empty'', manipulated digital print, 2008
[Eigner, S., ''Art of the Middle East: Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran'', Merrill, 2010, p. 173]
See also
*
Culture of Iraq
*
Islamic art
Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide ra ...
*
List of graphic designers
This is a list of notable graphic designers.
A-C
* Reza Abedini
* Otl Aicher
* Alan Aldridge
* John Alvin
* Gail Anderson
* Jeff Arwadi
* Roberto Baldazzini
* Jan Balet
* Marian Bantjes
* Noma Bar
* Jonathan Barnbrook
* Saul Ba ...
*
List of Iraqi artists
The following is a list of important artists, including visual arts, poets and musicians, who were born in Iraq, active in Iraq or whose body of work is primarily concerned with Iraqi themes or subject matter.
Note: This article uses Arabic nami ...
*
List of Iraqi women artists
This is a list of women artists who were born in Iraq or whose artworks are closely associated with that country.
A
* Najiba Ahmad (born 1954), poet
* Kajal Ahmad (born 1967 Kirkuk), Kurdish-Iraqi poet
*Firyal Al-Adhamy (born 1950), painter
* Ree ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kufi, Nedim
1962 births
Living people
20th-century Dutch painters
20th-century Iraqi painters
Abstract painters
Artists from Baghdad
Expressionist painters
Dutch graphic designers
Iraqi graphic designers
Iraqi ceramists
Iraqi contemporary artists
Dutch people of Iraqi descent
21st-century ceramists