Ahmed Al Safi ( ar, احمد الصافي, born 1971) is an Iraqi sculptor and painter.
Life and career
Al Safi was born in
Al Diwaniyah,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
.
He studied sculpture at the Fine Arts Academy 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. I ...
.
He won the
Ismail Fatah Al Turk
Ismail Fatah Al-Turk ("Ismail Fatah") (1934 or 1938–2004) was an Iraqi painter and sculptor born in Basra, Iraq, noted for his abstract art, monumental sculpture and public works and as part of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, which fostered a sen ...
Prize for young sculptors in 2000.
Al Safi's art reflects the concerns of a generation of Iraqi artists in the 1990s who were living through a time of international embargo and homeland dictatorship. Throughout the period of the embargo, Al Safi made sculptures and paintings in his Baghdad studio, his work collected by foreign diplomats and other visitors from the West, as well as collectors from the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
.
Known for his attenuated figures cast in bronze, Al Safi's representations of men strive to fly, leap or balance on precarious perches, perhaps reflecting the complex moral balancing act required of so many Iraqis during
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
's murderous reign. His work also uses themes from ancient
Mesopotamian culture, including agrarian and fishing motifs.
Artnet. Mumford
Al Safi has lived in France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
since 2005.
See also
* Iraqi art
Iraqi art is one of the richest art heritages in world and refers to all works of visual art originating from the geographical region of what is present day Iraq since ancient Mesopotamian periods. For centuries, the capital, Baghdad was the Med ...
* 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 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 ...
Notes
External links
AlSafiArtSaatchi GalleryBaghdad Journal - Artnet.com
*Mumford, Steve
"Baghdad Journal"
''artnet'', July 12, 2004. Accessed May 19, 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Safi, Ahmed Al
1971 births
20th-century sculptors
20th-century Iraqi painters
21st-century Iraqi painters
21st-century sculptors
Artists from Baghdad
Expressionist painters
Iraqi sculptors
Living people
War artists
Neo-expressionist artists