DIA AL- AZZAWI (Iraqi, b. 1939)
Untitled
signed and dated 'AL Azzawi 1980' (Center Left)
Acrylic on canvas
120x100cm
 
Provenance:
Galerie Faris. 1981
Ms.Budiarto, Switzerland 1981
and Thence by descent, Montreal
 
Exhibitions:
Galerie Faris, FIAC Paris, 1981
 
Special Thanks to Ms.Mysa Kafil Hussain and Mr. Azzawi for their help with cataloging informations.
 
The Malachite Gallery is honoured to present a beautiful work from the oeuvre of celebrated Iraqi artist Dia Al Azzawi  from 1980. Spending much of his time at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, the extensive collection of famous monumental works of Mesopotamian and Islamic art significantly influenced the artist’s stylistic practice. Al Azzawi began to combine techniques of contemporary painting with motifs drawn from the Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian heritage of Iraq and with geometric patterning drawn and arabesque from the contemporary tribal culture of the desert. This eventually lead him to establish the New Vision Group (al-Ru'yya al-Jadidah) in 1969 debating themes such as identity and modernity that serve as the backbone of his work today.
 
This work is noted for incorporating Arabic Calligraphy , scenes from Iraq’s history, and Babylonian symbols. His work has been collected and sought after  by world renowned  public institutions.
 
Active in the arts community, he founded the Iraqi art group known as New Vision and has been an inspiration to a generation of young, calligraffiti artists.