Featured Oil Painting "The Triumph of Saint George"

Just when the ill-conceived and ill-fated Iraq-invasion led by US president George W. Bush keeps and the prime minister of UK, Tony Blair, finally started to fade from our collective consciousness, it sprang back with vengeance in the tides of horrible stories and images.

Now, confronted with the terrifying aftermath of their reckless joint-decision, George W. Bush keeps mum, while Tony Blair tries desperately to white-wash his hands, yet however often he screamed "Out, damned spot! out, I say!", his hands, together with those of GWB's and Dick Cheney's, would forever be stained with blood, gushed from the mangled bodies of US soldiers and Iraqi people.

During his horrible and incompetent presidency, George W. Bush (GWB) was often criticized as an imbecile ninny occupying a high office due to his fabulous family connection - his father Georg Bush was the president of the US from 1989 to 1993. To me, that argument was incorrect and way too benevolent. GWB did many horrible things not due to his stupidity, but his fundamental believe in those horrible things.

To me, this painting of mine below, The Triumph of Saint George, created during the time he was drumming up the invasion of Iraq in 2003, reflects what he was; the painting also jump-started my ongoing Apocalypse Series, to commemorate the miseries of humankind.





I had hoped that what I depicted in that painting would be simply a warning sign, rather than, unfortunately, a most awful prophecy as it turned out. History will remember George W. Bush and Tony Blair, not kindly. As an artist, it was my duty to record and reflect the time I live in.

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- My Featured Work: Oil Painting “Interaction” – A Group Portraits
- New Publications in Pomona Valley Review
- 25 Years Later, Smell of Exhausted Tian'anmen "Warriors" Lingered

The Modern Art Iraq (Online) Archive

Title unknown,
Khaled Albassam, 1958

A new online archive came to into existence in February 2011 - The Modern Art Iraq Archive (MAIA). The website states that its mission is to document Iraq's threatened modern artistic heritage. The site will house images, many of whose originals are now lost, from the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art, and other publications and documentation. The website states that "MAIA's goals are to raise awareness of the diverse body of modern works of Iraqi art, to help locate their current whereabouts, and to assist agencies working to prevent their illegal movement and sale. MAIA aims to reach a wide and participatory audience across the globe, and offers users the ability to document, discuss, explore, and enrich Iraqi artistic expressions and experiences."

MAIA was launched with over 700 works and documents and the archive continues to grow as new works will be add continuously and they invite people worldwide to contribute information about the works. Its homepage states:

The Modern Art Iraq Archive (MAIA) is a resource to trace, share, and enable community enrichment of the modern art heritage of Iraq. Explore the works by artist, browse through related textual materials, or add your own images or stories to the archive.

The website is not dissimilar to many artist community website in their visual presentation and it currently has the following categories:

• Oil on Canvas زيت على قماش
• Mixed Media مواد متنوعة
• Watercolor ألوان مائية
• Charcoal / Pencil فحم/أقلام رصاص
• Sculpture نحت
• Ink on Paper حبر على ورق
• Print طباعة
• Watercolor and Ink ألوان مائية وحبر
• Sculpture (Bronze?) نحت برونزي
• Pencil أقلام

Styles and themes vary greatly and there were many surprises, most significantly that it contains many figurative works and even nudes, in contrary to many people's preconception of what Iraqi art would be:


Title unknown, Faiq Hassan, Date unknown

The more unique part of this website is the "Texts" section, which includes fascinating documentations like these:

- Exhibitions 1940s - Documentary Materials (معارض ١٩٤٠ - وثائق)
- Personal Documentation (وثائق شخصيه)

• Letter from Jawad Salim to his sister Naziha, sent from London, 1948

- Magazine Articles (مقالات من مجلات)

Central to the development the of website, according to MAIA, "were ease of use, translation into Arabic, extensive and inclusive documentation, community contribution, and syndication of content elsewhere on the Web." One curious thing to know is if the translation done automatically or manually. This is a very convenient feature and could facilitate culture understanding amongst groups of people. On my personally website, I included titles in my first and third language - Chinese and German, respectively - together with English titles in my portfolio and it did increase hits. I did it manually, since the site where my portfolio module is hosted - Flickr - does not provide an automatic translation feature, nor do my alternative portfolio sites on ArtSlant or Saatchi Online. A multi-lingual website is always a cause for celebration.

The contribute page allows people to upload their own materials, including stories, images, video, and audio.

The website however did not elaborate on how it will "assist agencies working to prevent their illegal movement and sale," and it would be interesting to learn.

The San Francisco Chronicle just reported a story of tracing a 6 feet wide painting by Ralph Fasanella, previously displayed at the Oakland Public Library and the Oakland Museum of California. It took Laura E. Ruberto great effort to locate this "missing" art, in African American Museum & Library at Oakland, its home since 2003. Apparently, an provenance agency like MAIA is very important to help identify and catalog works of art.