Ahmed Al Safi

Ahmed Al Safi ,(احمد الصافي) was born in Diwaniya, Iraq in 1971.Al Safi studied sculpture at the Fine Arts Academy in Baghdad. He won the Ismail Fatah Al Turk prize for young sculptors 2000.

Ahmed 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 [Mumford, Steve: "Baghdad Journal, An Artist in Occupied Iraq", page 151. Drawn and Quarterly Press, 2005] .

Known for his attenuated figures cast in bronze. In Al Safi's sculptures, 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's murderous reign. His work also uses themes from ancient Mesopotamian culture, including agrarian and fishing motifs [http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/mumford/mumford7-12-04.asp] .Since 2005 Al Safi has been living in France.

ee also

* List of Iraqi artists

Notes

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/alsafiart/ AlSafiArt]
* [http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist/details.php?id=11944 Saatchi Gallery]
* [http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/mumford/mumford10-5-11.asp Baghdad Journal - Artnet.com]
*Mumford, Steve. [http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/mumford/mumford7-12-04.asp "Baghdad Journal"] , "artnet", July 12, 2004. Accessed May 19, 2008.