Winner of Secret Art Prize Mohammed Sami
Image
Not to Be, Or Not to Be by Mohammed Sami
Winner of the Secret Art Prize 2014, Mohammed Sami finds the time before the opening of the art prize exhibition to give us an insight into his creative world. The Iraqi painter who has been in the eye of the storm, tells us more here...
Discipline: Painter
Age: 30
What did you study?: I studied at the Fine Arts Institute in Baghdad, Iraq 2000-2004.
Life ambition: No ambition for who has lost his motherland, I am a machine of art production, copying the mess from my head into canvas.
Who, or what is your greatest influence on your life and art?
My mother gave me a lot; talent, emotion, love and respect, she was and still is the biggest supporter for me since I was child. I can’t forget how she bought me colours and materials secretly, because it was not possible to have art ambition between a family with ten members in the previous time. My family forced me to find me another path, or skill as they thought everything is better than art. They thought art is useless, while my mother protected my gift- she has kept every single piece of my artworks since I was child, she bought my scribbles just to encouraging me while we were suffering from economic problems in Saddam regime. When I asked about the greatest influence in my life, I remember my mother. My greatest influence from humanity is my mother, she is the only woman who has never betrayed me!
I’ve refined my skills in art by supporting my style in several movements, like pop and Graffiti art, as long I loved the quick performance of graffiti artists, and my recent paintings inferred this when you seen the huge black lines and arcs painted by acrylic brushes not spray, sometime I feel that I am trying to integrating Graffiti and Fine Art together.
Who is your favourite artist at the moment?
I don't have a specific artist in my mind, I loved some pieces of several artists, like Picasso, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Banksy.
Describe a typical day in the studio in no more than 5 words.
To have enough sleeping pills !
Spontaneity or planning?
Planning.
Do you have a favourite piece of your own work?
I respect my artworks, but I hide many pieces so that I can make them better. This is the engine that motivates me, and gives me the excuse to develops my skills; that’s why I can’t point at some artworks at this moment, because I may change my mind after while.
What is the most challenging aspect of your work?
Facing huge pieces of white canvas. Staring into the whiteness for days and hours just to find the weakest spot in the canvas, to starting the huge mess and copying the waste from my mind into the canvas, feeling the illusion wind in the space of the surface -from right or left, up or down, before I build my movement on it, live and die many time in the beginning of every each painting.
But when I finished the painting with positive results, I release my self from my temple (The Studio) and smiling, laughing .. When I feel this, the process is worth the wasting my life just to paint this messages!
Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?
I remember when and where I was yesterday, but how can I see myself in the future? I will answer you after 10 years from now!
Please recommend one piece of essential reading.
100 years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
If you could time travel to one era or event, when would you choose?
I will choose nothing, both are boring as they are still on the same planet.
Tea or Coffee?
Capaccino
What super power would you have for a day?
When I feel that my mind is pregnant with a new and good idea for next painting, I feel like I have a gem in my pocket!
What are you listening to at the moment?�
In fact, I can’t listen to anything at the moment, I am using earplugs because my neighbour is noisey, so annoying!
Thank you Sami!
Secret Art Prize 2014
Private View Thursday 4th September 6-9pm
4th - 27th September
Curious Duke Gallery, full details here...