Iraqi-Art.com
Iraqi-Art.com
By April Jervis
Art thrives everywhere; artists don’t.
Ahmen Nussaif "War"
In Iraq, artists are among the staggeringly high number of unemployed. Chicago social entrepreneur Chuck Trimbach entered the scene to champion their cause. In mid-2005 he launched a Website to display the art of 13 Iraqi artists. Since then it has grown by artist referral to representation of over 50 artists.
Iraqi-art.com isn’t a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. He has not yet been able to raise the funds for the application and registration fees.
However the metaphor of a non-profiteering mission hasn’t changed. The formal mission statement reads, “Thereare millions of people worldwide who suffer, caught in themiddle of brutal conflicts in which they do not participate,but which victimize them nonetheless.Through our web exhibition, we provide a much needed, more comprehensive and humanistic view of the peopleand cultures in which these artists live. It is ourgoal to promote understanding and compassion forpeople who live under tyranny and oppression.”
Trimbach is more precise saying his site,“represent artists who live under conditions of extreme environmental stress such as war.”
The process of representing Iraqi artists in Chicago is its own artistic system. The artists send Trimbach photos of their work and he selects the pieces to show. Then, the Bagdad-based artists remove the paintings from their stretchers, roll them up, and send them DHL to him in Chicago.
“Usually they arrived in a tightly bound duffel sack. Shipping from Iraq is surprisingly reliable. The paintings always arrived within 10 days of having been sent,” says Trimbach.
He then sells these pieces to Chicagoans. From November 2006 to November 2008 Trimbach did this in a gallery space. Currently he sells the pieces on his Web site http://iraqi-art.com/.
When a piece sells Trimbach sends 50 percent of the sale price to the artist via Western Union. This financial support helps them continue to survive in a war zone, and gives them the means to continue to create art. (it might be nice here to compare that to the kind of gallery cut that’s standard in the US, to show that this guy is really doing charitable work)
Mohammed Musyir Woman and Man on the bed
Trimbach especially enjoys the works of Mohammed Msyir and Ahmed Nussaif. “They are both, in my opinion, very accomplished artists with unique styles,” he says. “The pieces of both artists are at once highly intellectual and visceral. Real emotion is conveyed through their art.”
In Msyir’s artist’s statement, he describes mass graves, death, and living surrounded by violence. These are themes he depicts in his dark pieces.
I enjoyed ButhainaAbd-Raheem’suntitled collection of oils paintings.They portray Iraqis in a market and preparing food in vibrant and inviting colors.
http://iraqi-art.com.
