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Lot Essay
'I'm not trying to make 'war paintings', but paintings about war. I'm more interested in depicting the effects of war on people who live under these circumstances. So generally I don't show actual battle scenes in which there are soldiers, or fighting weapons. I've been in the unique and painful situation of observing the war and being in the U.S. while my family remains in Baghdad. I'm away physically but I talk to my family very often, so I feel caught in between. This state of being 'between' two places and two worlds allows me to see and hear things from a different point of view'
(A. Alsoudani, quoted in R. Goff, 'Ahmed Alsoudani in Conversation with Robert Goff', Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat, Goff + Rosenthal, New York, 2009, p. 61).
'The faces are made up directly on the canvas, and they always end up looking spectral... I am more interested in the traces or shadows of a face- an image of someone who was there at some point, but left, and no longer exits'
(A. Alsoudani quoted in S. Biernoff, 'The Impurity of Painting', in Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat., Haunch of Venison, London, 2011, unpaged).
With incredible force and dynamism, semi-abstract forms which teeter on the brink of recognition hurtle across the vast canvas that forms Ahmed Alsoudani's Untitled. In this striking image, filled with vibrant detail and with an incredibly visceral surface, the artist explores and crystallises many of the mixed emotions. Alsoudani has felt as an artist occupying a space he describes as 'between': he lives in exile from his home in Iraq, and instead is based in the United States of America, the country responsible for some of the destruction that he viewed on his television during the invasion by Allied Forces in 2003. It was only fitting that he was one of a handful of artists selected to exhibit in the 2011 Iraq Pavilion at the Venice Biennale - the first time his country had been represented there in 35 years.
Using a subdued palette of charcoal and acrylic on canvas, the abstracted figures are intertwined in a bubbling matrix of dazzling colours set against a serene cornflower blue, exposing Alsoudani's richly layered working process. At times verging on the abstract, traces of human forms are visible, however Alsoudani evades presenting a recognisable individuals. 'The faces are made up directly on the canvas', he states, 'and they always end up looking spectral... I am more interested in the traces or shadows of a face- an image of someone who was there at some point, but left, and no longer exits' (A. Alsoudani quoted in S. Biernoff, 'The Impurity of Painting', in Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat., Haunch of Venison, London, 2011, unpaged). With sections of exquisitely detailed charcoal, issues which Untitled retains passages of the powerful immediacy of a sketch, while its majestic scale affirms it as an undeniable masterpiece within his oeuvre and situates it within the long canon of war paintings.
Alsoudani's most frequent subject is that of conflict: living in the United States of America while allied forces invaded Iraq and occupied his former home, Baghdad, he was forced to be a distant witness to the torments that were being rained upon his friends and family back home, watching the news as bombs rained down and tanks rolled in. He has recalled: 'generally I don't show actual battle scenes in which there are soldiers, or fighting weapons. I've been in the unique and painful situation of observing the war and being in the U.S. while my family remains in Baghdad. I'm away physically but I talk to my family very often, so I feel caught in between. This state of being 'between' two places and two worlds allows me to see and hear things from a different point of view' (A. Alsoudani, quoted in R. Goff, 'Ahmed Alsoudani in Conversation with R. Goff', pp. 59-62, Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat., Goff + Rosenthal, New York, 2009, p. 61).
Alsoudani's evocative and emotional renderings of conflict, as so forcefully seen in Untitled, posits his oeuvre within a grand art historical tradition of Western religious art. Indeed, Alsoudani cites Rogier van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross as a direct source of inspiration as it simultaneously unites elements of anguish with overwhelming beauty yet also appeals to the viewer on a purely formal level as though an abstract painting. Evoking an emotional connection, for the artist this paradox is central: 'I don't want the colour to be just a decorative element, I want to generate the painting and the drawing at the same time. This is the most challenging aspect... the moment the viewer establishes a connection with the painting, they discover the details have nothing to do with the palette' (A. Alsoudani, quoted in S. Biernoff 'The Impurity of Painting', Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat., Haunch of Venison, London, 2011, unpaged).
(A. Alsoudani, quoted in R. Goff, 'Ahmed Alsoudani in Conversation with Robert Goff', Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat, Goff + Rosenthal, New York, 2009, p. 61).
'The faces are made up directly on the canvas, and they always end up looking spectral... I am more interested in the traces or shadows of a face- an image of someone who was there at some point, but left, and no longer exits'
(A. Alsoudani quoted in S. Biernoff, 'The Impurity of Painting', in Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat., Haunch of Venison, London, 2011, unpaged).
With incredible force and dynamism, semi-abstract forms which teeter on the brink of recognition hurtle across the vast canvas that forms Ahmed Alsoudani's Untitled. In this striking image, filled with vibrant detail and with an incredibly visceral surface, the artist explores and crystallises many of the mixed emotions. Alsoudani has felt as an artist occupying a space he describes as 'between': he lives in exile from his home in Iraq, and instead is based in the United States of America, the country responsible for some of the destruction that he viewed on his television during the invasion by Allied Forces in 2003. It was only fitting that he was one of a handful of artists selected to exhibit in the 2011 Iraq Pavilion at the Venice Biennale - the first time his country had been represented there in 35 years.
Using a subdued palette of charcoal and acrylic on canvas, the abstracted figures are intertwined in a bubbling matrix of dazzling colours set against a serene cornflower blue, exposing Alsoudani's richly layered working process. At times verging on the abstract, traces of human forms are visible, however Alsoudani evades presenting a recognisable individuals. 'The faces are made up directly on the canvas', he states, 'and they always end up looking spectral... I am more interested in the traces or shadows of a face- an image of someone who was there at some point, but left, and no longer exits' (A. Alsoudani quoted in S. Biernoff, 'The Impurity of Painting', in Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat., Haunch of Venison, London, 2011, unpaged). With sections of exquisitely detailed charcoal, issues which Untitled retains passages of the powerful immediacy of a sketch, while its majestic scale affirms it as an undeniable masterpiece within his oeuvre and situates it within the long canon of war paintings.
Alsoudani's most frequent subject is that of conflict: living in the United States of America while allied forces invaded Iraq and occupied his former home, Baghdad, he was forced to be a distant witness to the torments that were being rained upon his friends and family back home, watching the news as bombs rained down and tanks rolled in. He has recalled: 'generally I don't show actual battle scenes in which there are soldiers, or fighting weapons. I've been in the unique and painful situation of observing the war and being in the U.S. while my family remains in Baghdad. I'm away physically but I talk to my family very often, so I feel caught in between. This state of being 'between' two places and two worlds allows me to see and hear things from a different point of view' (A. Alsoudani, quoted in R. Goff, 'Ahmed Alsoudani in Conversation with R. Goff', pp. 59-62, Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat., Goff + Rosenthal, New York, 2009, p. 61).
Alsoudani's evocative and emotional renderings of conflict, as so forcefully seen in Untitled, posits his oeuvre within a grand art historical tradition of Western religious art. Indeed, Alsoudani cites Rogier van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross as a direct source of inspiration as it simultaneously unites elements of anguish with overwhelming beauty yet also appeals to the viewer on a purely formal level as though an abstract painting. Evoking an emotional connection, for the artist this paradox is central: 'I don't want the colour to be just a decorative element, I want to generate the painting and the drawing at the same time. This is the most challenging aspect... the moment the viewer establishes a connection with the painting, they discover the details have nothing to do with the palette' (A. Alsoudani, quoted in S. Biernoff 'The Impurity of Painting', Ahmed Alsoudani, exh. cat., Haunch of Venison, London, 2011, unpaged).