SOLO EXHIBITION AT MEET GALLERY (28 FEB – 30 MAY 2023) Mahmoud Obaidi: Mosquito Effects

Speaking truth to power has never been something Mahmoud Obaidi has shied away from in his work. The artist was introduced to the notion of injustice during his adolescence and has since spent much of his life processing the destruction of his homeland and the isolation of exile. At the same time, he has found commonality in the suffering of many communities worldwide who have also faced the brutal force of racism, occupation and inconceivable loss. In creating art that confronts these complex issues, Obaidi looks beyond simplistic politics and perceptions of identity, instead seeking to uncover and understand trauma from a historical, structural and geographical lens. As with much of Obaidi’s oeuvre, this latest body of work is made up of a multitude of layers which lie behind the external, visible yet abstract structures, shapes and colour, revealing a visual inquiry which goes far beyond the topics which he seeks to tackle - namely colonisation and genocide - and simultaneously forces him to look within and explore his sense of displacement.

Mahmoud Obaidi is an Iraqi conceptual artist who lives and works between Doha and Beirut. Obtaining a BA in fine art from the Academy of Fine Arts, Baghdad, in 1990, Obaidi went on to complete a Master’s of Fine Arts at the University of Guelph in Canada in 1999. The artist has also received a diploma in New Media from Ryerson University, Toronto and, in 1998, a further diploma in film producing from HIF Film Academy, Los Angeles.

Characterized by contemporary politics and a sarcastic sense of humour, Obaidi works in many materials, allowing the concept behind a particular work to determine his choice of media. Solo exhibitions include Fragments, Qatar Museums Gallery, Doha, 2016; Fair Skies, Project Space, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, 2016; The Replacement, Meem Gallery, Dubai, 2014 and The Replacement, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait City, 2014.

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Mosquito Effects, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 160 x 140 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Mosquito Effects 1, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 270 x 200 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Mosquito Effects 2, 2022. Mixed media on canvas / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Mosquito Effects 5, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 200x180 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Metamorphosis 1, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 270 x 200 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, The Purification of American Land 2, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 250 x 200 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Mosquito Effects 6, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 200 x 180 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Parallel Universe 1, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 160 x 140 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Parallel Universe 2, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 160 x 120 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Mosquito Effects 2, 2022. Mixed media on canvas / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Mosquito Effects 3, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 200 x 180 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Mahmoud Obaidi 1966 - PRESENT, Mosquito Effects 4, 2022. Mixed media on canvas, 200 x 180 cm / Courtesy of Meem gallery and the artist

Recent group exhibitions include Artists Making Books: Poetry to Politics, The British Museum, London, 2023; Interactions, Istanbul Modern, 2021; Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011, PS1 MoMA, NYC, 2019; Living Histories, British Museum, London, 2017; 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2017; Baghdad Manifesto, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2016; 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2015; Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, 2013; 25 Years of Arab Creativity, Institute du Monde Arabe, Paris, 2012; Art in Iraq Today, Meem Gallery, Dubai, and Beirut Exhibition Centre, Beirut; 2011; Modernism and Iraq, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 2009.

Mahmoud Obaidi’s work is held in multiple international institutions and museum collections, including Istanbul Modern; Mathaf: Museum of Modern Arab Art, Doha; British Museum, London; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman; Ibrahimi Collection, Amman; Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah; the Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad; Musee d’Art Contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec: Nabu Museum, Lebanon and The Dalloul Art Foundation in Beirut.

'Mosquito Effects' will run at Meem Gallery until 30 May 2023.