Shaker Hassan Al Said (Iraq)
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It was not until the 1940's that the modern vision found its
way to the core of artistic work wherein it was conceived
by its two prominent pioneers, namely Faiq Hassan and Jawad
Selim with their adherents following suit. Working in unison
, the two creative masters labored painstakingly not only
to pave a distinctly manifest path for succeeding generations
to pursue, but to bring about the concept of artistic groupings
representing various Iraqi artist trends. In addition to that,
they founded artistic traditions and criteria that are in
one way or another still adhered to today, despite difficulties
imposed by harsh conditions to which Iraqi artists have generally
been subjected.
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Iraqi's
cultural isolation, brought about in consequence of the now
decade long embargo imposed on it, has given rise to exceptional
circumstances that in addition to rendering the standard of
performance disjointed and dispersed have split Iraq into
an inner and outer halves. And along Iraq's two extremities,
no less extensively outstretched than the wide expanse of
the world itself, the experiences of artists, both those who
have lived through two or more generations or those who are
young, are undergoing a process of crystallization. With visions
inspired by the bitterness of reality, the march of creative
output goes on unhindered, both inside Iraq and outside it,
as though art is a spirit kindling over the soil of this time-honored
land and engendering one generation after another...
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