Ahmed Alsoudani's turbulent paintings depict a disfigured tableau of war and atrocity. Although the content of the paintings draws on the artists' own experiences of recent wars in Iraq, the imagery of devastation and violence - often laced with a morbid and barbed humor - evoke a universal experience of conflict and human suffering. Deformed figures, some almost indistinguishable and verging on the bestial, intertwine and distort in vivid, surreal landscapes. Figures are often depicted at a moment of transition - through fear or agony - from human to grotesque. Alsoudani draws on many artists for inspiration and imagery - from Caravaggio to Carroll Dunham - yet has a clearly developed language of his own.
A graduate of the Yale School of Art, Alsoudani currently lives and works in New York. His work has been included in museum exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar, and the Saatchi Gallery among others. A monograph was published by Hatje Cantz in 2009. He has been profiled in Der Spiegel, Art + Auction, and Canvas Magazine. His work has been reviewed in Art in America, London's The Sunday Times and The Independent, Artnet and other publications. His work is in the collections of the Columbus Museum of Art, the Pinault Foundation collection, the Qatar Museum and private collections around the world. He will be one of five artists representing Iraq in the upcoming 2011 Venice Biennale.
