Ayad Alkadhi Iraqi, b. 1971

Ayad Alkadhi’s work focuses on cultural and political topics of Iraq and the Middle East. The work is mainly biographical and sometimes incorporates his painted image. His use of Arabic newspaper on mixed-media canvases, as well as his use of calligraphy, connects elements of traditional medium  to contemporary art.  The collision produces images that ultimately express the artist’s perceived existence at the crux of East and West polarities.

Alkadhi, who received his MFA from the New York University's ITP Tisch School of the Arts,  exhibited in the Middle East, New Zealand, Europe and the U.S.  His most recent exhibits include:  the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in North Carolina; University of Michigan Museum of Art; Nevada Museum of Art; Los Angeles Municipal Gallery in Los Angeles; the Queens Museum, the Austrian Cultural forum and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum in New York; the Station Museum in Houston, Texas; the Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah in the UAE.    

Alkadhi's work is in the permanent collection of a number of museums shuch as, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, Taiwan, The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art (Shangri La), Honolulu and more…

Born and raised in Baghdad,  Alkadhi left Iraq for a better future after the first Gulf war.   Alkadhi currently lives and works in New York City.