artBahrain.org

You have developed a good reputation as the voice of contemporary art in Iraq. How did you become interested in writing art criticism?

It simply happened by accident. I started my writing career as a poet, first and foremost. In the outset, I acquired my BA in English literature (Baghdad University). When I needed to articulate the surge of feelings, images and ideas that overwhelmed me, I enlarged my creative activity, and started writing short stories, I wrote my first stories in a poetic spirit and style. I had to develop my education and knowledge, following up poetic production everywhere, supported by reading literary theories, old and new. As such I came across history of art and history of music, I am quite interested in both, I started to recognize, then follow up the interrelation between creative arts and understand how each supports the other. At this stage I started to visit life shows in Baghdad, meet artists and try to understand how they work. By the beginning of the 1970. When I wrote my first articles, and made couple of interviews, the Iraqi artists found some sensitivity in my writing and certain potential for reading the art work visually and not literally. In 1973 I married one of the most prominent young artists. Rafa's work is full of poetry, his approach to the universe is poetic. Living with such a creative artist endowed me with the practical side of this career. Since that time, my writing career diverged into three main lines, separated though connected, poetry, short stories and art appreciation.

From an academic perspective, is it the knowledge of art history or curatorial studies?

Mine was mainly derived, as mentioned above, from art history and art criticism, in addition to the knowing the practical side of
plastic arts.

What are the things do you consider when you look at an art work and have to decide whether it’s a worthwhile piece to write about?

Undoubtedly every art critic and observer in general, feels bias toward his or her own artistic taste, what exactly courts mind or feelings. Yet, for a career writer this cannot be fair or enough. One must take an objective look to what one sees or experience. Being a poet, my first impression to wards any art work is judged by my feelings. I find myself attracted to this work or that with or without reason. The following step is to pose certain questions concerning this exact feeling, and start to look for the other aspects that make this work worthy to be considered seriously or not. Judging Iraqi/Arab modern art works make things even more difficult:, because you need to figure out how original is the work? Where does it stand in his/her own artistic career, and how much can this add to the general art movement, locally or regionally. Usually, when I find myself in a position to write about an artist, do not get satisfied unless I speak to the artist, or read about him/her, and become sure of my conclusions.

Prior to viewing the artwork, what things will you be anticipating for before you can reach the part where you can say, “This work of art is talking
to me.”

This depends on how deep I know the artist and his work; while dealing with the works of an established artist, I go with a certain expectation. But in case the experience in quite new, I go with a fresh mind, often with no pre conceived idea, after viewing the work I either come out disappointed, or neutral or enthusiastic for discovering a new talent. The most important factor in my writing on art is to feel the work, to fall in love with it. My best writings come from this state of love. By the way this includes my choice of translations and the few literary essays and articles I had written.

What do you think is the current state of art criticism in the Middle East?

Middle East is a term I use with much reservation. I may only speak of the state of art criticism in the Arab world, where I belong. Comparing the extensive product of art works produced by Arab artists and the high status some already acquired locally, regionally and I dare say internationally as well, with the product of art criticism give us poor results. The modern art movements in certain Arab countries (Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq) go back to more than a century now. For the last four decades such movements included the whole Arab world. Yet, you can hardly rely on well documented sources, we still need museums for modern art, professional magazines, publications on Arab art history and publications dedicated to the prominent figures who led these art movements in this Arab country or that. We need to do a lot of translations from international languages to Arabic and, at the same time, professionally present our artistic achievements to the world. There should be certain foundations that take over the task of promoting Arab art locally and internationally. Arab researchers and art historians, very limited indeed, face so many obstacles, mainly sponsoring and financial support, forget about the difficulties they face while moving from one country to another in search of sources or holding interviews. As a result, and to meet the lack of such studies researchers from non Arab countries are doing such studies, they have all the means and facilities to move freely in our own countries. At the same time they are completely alien, and lack a lot of understanding of the actual art scene. Their judgments emanate from what they find available in the media. In recent years I have been meeting with some PHD students who come to ask for sources; I supply them with my studies and contributions to art conferences o seminars, a material that I am unable to publish.

We live in an open art worldwhere art critics write about artists and art on their individual blog sites, art blogs or on their Facebook and Twitter distributed over the vastness of the Internet. Looking at the changing 'landscape' of art criticism, do you think the influential voices of the future art world will be from critics of traditional print publication or from independent art bloggers who explore art criticism on their own terms?

I believe the art scene can only be shaped and reshaped by the creativity of the artists themselves.

What are your thoughts on the Iraqi Pavilion at the 54thVenice Biennale?

I was lucky to see recently a video showing the works of the Iraqi artists taking part in the Iraqi Pavilion at the 54^th Venice Biennale. This collection was professionally and tactfully selected. Beside the high standard of the art works, the artists, all living in exile now with different nationalities, expressed a high sense of belonging to the original Homeland, Iraq. Nearly all the contributors, with the exception of one, acquired their first hand art education in Baghdad, they later on developed their know-how in their resident countries, but have never really forgotten that they come from Iraq, the land of the first civilization in the world. I felt satisfied with the exhibits and the stance of the artists, their insistence on having their unique voice, resisting their dissolution in Exile.