Art2Muse

Artworks available to view in Sydney

• Paintings by Ali Abbas are available at Interstudio showroom

Born in Iraq Alnasiriyeh, 1964

Education

1992 BA, Academy of Fine Arts, Baghdad University, Iraq

Artist Statement

As soon as the colour brush touches the white surface; I feel that the real and the imaginary become alike and the obscure details that compose features of life are transformed into colours. There is something that could be an encounter from a folklore story, a symbol, an ornament decorating a window, or the hand of a child that has left its traces on a wall of a back alley which is full of signs, will always trigger everything on the canvas square. Then, the process of painting would turn into a carnival of colours as in a traditional rug, or tends to emotionally convey the artist's deep feelings and dreams.

In my work there is an awareness of place and its complications, that sense of the past and that of believing in a coming hope linking the past and present. Colours of popular rugs converge with the Australian landscape in my work to produce a new horizon of fables that are undergoing a perpetual transformation.

Displacement is obviously a physical procedure that can be applied to various objects, yet the displacement of a person would have a deep psychological impact, since, we humans do not move through the physical world only, rather we accommodate ourselves in a social and cultural order that plays a vital role in shaping our identity. In my personal experience of displacement, I felt, at a time, completely lost and unable of recognizing myself anymore. Yet, I was able to restore the sense of identity by continuous attempts to capture the features of the new landscape and building an intimate relationship with the surroundings.

As an artist, I am deeply concerned with the painting surface and trying to impose different layers of texture in order to indicate traces of passing things. Smooth surfaces are sterile and do not provoke my imagination, thus I always manipulate the painting surface by adding a rougher texture, accumulated signs and symbols to create a sense of contrast that have the potentiality of stimulating the spectator’s imagination. One of the Iraqi artists who have exerted a notable influence on my works is Shakir Hasan Al Sa’id (1925 - 2004). He was fascinated by contemplating on the poor suburbs’ walls and deriving his ideas from them. I also find on walls of a city a great deal of that hidden dimension which reflects its memory. Any wall in any city would represent a unique part of its history and would reflect certain aspect of its journey in time. Thus, I pursue the living symbols that dwell on cities’ walls and try to deconstruct them to their very basic composition and then reconstruct them in my work through new perspective. Parallel to that, works the populist fables which I consider to be the entail state of developing an art work. The populist fables apparently invest the every day life facts after charging them with a magical dimension to constitute a pure spiritual world where the aesthetic has a stronger presence than the realistic. This is another fascination which is rooted in my early childhood when fables were told every night by elderly people in the family in a ritualistic way that aims to pass knowledge and experience from one generation to another.

I believe that the environment is the physical and the spiritual inspiration of the artist. So, on the basis of this idea, I'm trying to reconstruct and create my own story about every day’s life through a symbolic formation, and a sensual aesthetic vision.
In most of my works one may notice that awareness of place and its complications, that sense of the past time, and that kind of believing in the coming hope. Thus it appears as if there is a continuity that links past and present. In other words the folkloric colours of my early memories converge with the Australian landscape, which exerts its influence on me, to produce a new horizon of fables that are undergoing a perpetual formation. It is by colours and lines that I opt to restore my position of rest.

- Ali Abbas

Bags

For Ali the bag represents the life and destiny of a human being. This bag is not for travel, but is an integral part of our inner selves. It has been part of us since birth and is transformed throughout our lives by our relationship with life and others. It contains our memories, sentiments, anxieties, sadness, hopes, wishes and the beautiful and the difficult events and the traces of the time and the places in our lives.

Solo Exhibitions

2008 A donkey carries the city-Zamaan Gallery, Lebanon.
2003 What is left of memory - Lebanon.
2002 Clay Dreams - Lebanon.
2000 Doors ornamented- Lebanon.
1998 The Phoenix, Azamel Gallery- Baghdad ,Iraq.

Group exhibitions

2009 Blacktown city Art Exhibition, Blacktown Art centre.
2008 Campbelltown Art Centre -Fisher's Ghost art Award.
2008 Blacktown city Art Exhibition, Blacktown Art centre.
2008 Blacktown arts centre (Tales of colour).
2007 Blacktown city Art Exhibition, Blacktown Art centre.
2007 Campbelltown arts centre.dis/place:making working in exile.
2007 Blacktown Artist Network, Blacktown Arts Centre.
2006 Blacktown City Art Exhibition, Blacktown Arts Centre.
2006 T-fouh- Mori Gallery.
2005 Blacktown City Art Exhibition, Blacktown Arts Centre.
2005 Songs of travelling birds: Iraq artists in exile, Blacktown Arts centre.
2004 Thoughts, Feelings and Beliefs, Fairfield City Museum and Gallery.
2004 For freedom, Glass's Gallery, Lebanon.
2003 - 2004 The third and Fourth exhibition, Al-Harreri Association and UNESCO. Lebanon.
2003 Belonging of Memory, Alnahida Gallery.
2003 Memories, American University, Lebanon.
2001 Six Arabic Creative Experiences, Al-Mada gallery, Syria.
1995 Three Artists, Al-Fenneq Gallery, Jordan.
1995 Three Artists, Enana Gallery, Baghdad.
1992 Human being and Life, Enana gallery.
1992 Creative Experiences of Young Artists, Artists' Association, Baghdad.
1991 Al-Wasiti, Arts Centre, Baghdad
1986 Group exhibition-Cuba

Awards

2006 - 2007 Blacktown Art Centre Highly commended painting.
2004 Merit Certificate from The Association of l-Harriri Art Organisation Graduates Lebanon

Memberships

Member of NAVA national association for the visual art, Australia.
Member of Asian Australian Artists Association inc.
Member of Iraq artists' association- Baghdad.
Member of Iraq visual artists - Baghdad.
Member of Iraq photographers' association, Baghdad.

Commissions considered

Contact Katrina Hampton +61-424809849 / +61 2 9697 3299