Modhir Ahmed

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.

Tomas Tranströmer and Modhir Ahmed (Stockholm, March 30, 2007)

Biography

Modhir Ahmed came of age in the late 1960s. He studied at Baghdad Institute of Fine Arts in the era when Minimalism 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.

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 Scholarship, Karlskoga, Sweden
  • Xth Józef Gielniak Graphic Art Competition, Jelenia Góra, Poland (Distinction)
• 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

References

• Iraqis in Sweden|
• Karlskoga Nobel Art scholarship

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

Persondata
Name	Ahmed, Modhir
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1956
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death