mahmoudobaidi

8/3/2019 mahmoudobaidi

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Mahmoud Obaidi

by G.H. Rabbath

GH RABBATH How does it feel to be ahyphenated artist?MAHMOUD OBAIDI I eel as much Iraqi as I eelCanadian. Teres no doubt about that. Tat beingsaid, theres so much to do or Iraqi art and Iraqiartists that I have a certain eeling o responsibilitytowards my country o origin. Teres a complete

lack o unding or support o any kind. We basicallyhelp each other out.GHR: You mean to say that theres a kind o an Iraqiartists network?MO: Tere is what you can call a network o Iraqiartists. You know, one thing that dierentiates usrom artists rom other neighbouring countries is the

complete lack o unding or support or any kind oart projects. Dia Azawi, and I, or one, have beenvery active in that area.GHR: Is there something being planned?MO: Were working on a cartographic project withDia where we would show a map o Iraqi artistsscattered around the world, but its still too early

to talk about. o set the record straight about Dia,I have to mention that his activities go beyond theIraqi artist issue. Hes now setting-up a show in

Jordan or Syrian artists. Its not like were somekind o closed community, theres no place or thatin the art world. Its just that Iraqi artists need morenancial help these days or obvious reasons.

Fair Skies 2010


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Advanced Search Engine machine for missing Iraqis

GHR: Lets talk about your work. Is there a breakbetween past and present work, and do you seeyoursel as a conceptual artist?MO: Yes and no. I think we have to make something

clear about the conceptual label: there has been a loto conusion about the word on the one hand, andthe word itsel doesnt really describe what artists doand what I do, or that matter. In any case, I dontthink you can put labels on art despite what peoplebelieve and mostly despite o what is being donenowadays. I think o mysel as a conceptual artist,but Im not doing concepts or a purpose or someclear cut meaning, Im just doing things, thats all.Te concepts are there but there are other things atplay as well; there are things out there, i you know

what I mean.Going back to the rst part o your question, thereare shared points between past and present work, butthere is a clear break, in act. Im glad you asked thatquestion, by the way. Something happened in 2005.My rst show was at the Museum o Modern Arto Iraq in 1989. Since that time, until seven yearsago, you could talk o continuity. But somethinghappened ve years ago that changed everything. Iused to do a lot o digital photography when the rstdigital cameras came out. I stocked up on hundredso thousands o photos, cramming them onto an

ever-growing number o fash disks. Te fash disksbecame data DVDs and then high capacity externalhard drives. And then one day, I erased everything. It

wasnt just a symbolic gesture; something happenedin my mind as well as in my lie, and maybe the

world, and the action itsel could be regarded as artin itsel, but it is also something more. EverythingI did up to that point, I was doing right, but I wasdoing it all or the wrong reasons.GHR: When did that happen?MO: It happened in Canada. I was doing a Masters

degree there at Guelph University and I met onySherman. Hes a well known artist and writer. Oneday I was showcasing my project. He asked me verysimply: What are you doing? I was a little bitstuck-up at that time, having done quite a ew showsin Europe and having had prizes and all. We werein my studio and I remember distinctly his words:

Its all bullshit. Its like somebody stops you romgoing over the edge and asks you: Where are yougoing?, and right ater that pushes you himsel ovethe top. So, up until 2002, I collected photos, jusas I collected techniques and know-how, and thethere was Canada, and just ater that, New York.

was hearing everything but I wasnt really listeningIn act, I think you do what you have to do, waitin

or something, and most o the time you dont eveknow what youre waiting or. But when you dknow, and eventually nd it, well that changes youlie. Tat changes everything. In 2004, I let go oeverything I thought I knew. I unlearned everythingand this was the most important decision in my lieI understood later on that erasing that hard drive wamore than a symbolic gesture.GHR: Do you consider it as an artistic perormanceMO: Te erasing is a work o art in and o itsel

And its even more so because nobody knew abou

it, until now o course.GHR: Tats what makes it authentic, I think. Tat

what makes it more than just art.MO: As a matter o act, just beore erasing thhard drive, I did a project that I called My Mindis 200 GB. It was a wooden box trapped in a glascontainer into which I put paper documents and


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fash disks. A project like that doesnt have the samemeaning when its done by a twenty year-old. Onehas to make a lie ull o memories and closets ull o

things beore mustering the courage or the sanity todo away with it all and begin rom the ground up.Some day soon Ill have to show that empty 500 GBdrive.GHR: Coming back to the present and the successo your show in Art Dubai this year, as I understandit has generated a lot o interest in the US, and ashow in New York last April.MO: I tell you, its a good thing I have a Canadianpassport; I wouldnt have made it to US soil i it

werent or that. Te other Iraqi artists werent that

lucky.GHR: Did you get to use one o your kits?MO: I didnt, no, but I wish I had at Kuwait Airport.GHR: Why, what happened in Kuwait?MO Just beore my show in New York I had anotherone in Kuwait, but I got stopped at the Kuwaitairport on the charge that my Canadian passport was

a orgery, and I had to return whence I came.GHR: It is ironic, isnt it?MO: Lie is ull o ironies; the vending machines

didnt make it to the New York show. Te agentsin Doha wouldnt let us ship them; they said themachines werent art. Apart rom that the showat LMH gallery was great. I did a piece or TeObserver newspaper o April 14.GHR: How did it come about?MO: Te original idea was that Gayle Mandle wouldcurate a show where she would show her work andmine. But I suggested a group show with other Iraqiartists.GHR: Tere are a lot o similarities between her style

and yours.MO: Gayle is like a soulmate. I want to go back tothe Fair Skies show I did in Dubai this year and putthe record straight about how it all started. One cannever repeat it enough, but Saleh Barakat had a bighand in it. Saleh and I go back a long way. I haveknown him or 16 years now. wo years ago we were

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Mohamed Obaidi in his Studio

at an opening at Art Dubai - or the lie o me Icant remember which one it was. Anyway, we weresitting somewhere, the music was loud, it was night.I told him that I had an idea or a new project. When

he heard about it he just said: Te project is mine,I want it. We drew away rom the crowd and therest, as you might say, is history, and maybe even arthistory someday, although i one has to go by yourbook about Fair Skies, one might hope it never getsto that, I mean or the projects sake.GHR: Yes, o course. So what did happen,historywise?MO: Six months later the project ran into a speedbump. You see, my original idea didnt call or avending machine, it was more o a concept than areal object, but Saleh insisted that there should bea product to show, and sell o course. I have tosay that, at the moment, on hearing the P wordI really wanted to hang up on the guy. But I camearound, and two weeks later the idea o the vendingmachines was born. Te whole story is that JessicaMorgan told him that the machines shouldnt just

be or show, but really work, and so I was o toChina. $50,000 later, in the weeks leading to the ArDubai Fair, I elt Saleh had some doubts, as i h

was taking a big risk showing the Fair Skies alone on

his stand instead o a collection o more conservativartworks like paintings and sculptures as he usualldoes. Tats where you came in, I think, and you dida hell o a job.GHR: Tank you my riend.MO: Its the truth. Anyway, Saleh saw soon enoughthat the gamble paid o tenold. It was a great showa very good critical reception and lots o publiinterest.GHR: So, what are you plans or the uture?MO:Well, or one thing, the Arab MoMA here iDoha is acquiring a great amount o my work, andI have two projects up north, but Ive been asked tokeep it under wraps or now.GHR: I guess well know soon enough.MO: Denitely.

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