Known for his vibrant, expressionistic paintings that allude to an undercurrent of the shared experience of trauma and violence, Alsoudani collaborated with the Fabric Workshop and Museum’s team of studio artists to translate the organic forms from his paintings into an array of large-scale sculptures. Later painted by Alsoudani, these eerie forms will be placed throughout the gallery as though emerging directly from the space itself.
The Fabric Workshop and Museum
Eighth Floor
The Fabric Workshop and Museum presents 'Bitter Fruit' by Iraqui artist Ahmed Alsoudani
Bethany Owings, 6ABC Loves the Arts, February 2, 2022
Ahmed Alsoudani with Ann C. Collins
Ann C. Collins, The Brooklyn Rail, February 1, 2022
The Weekly Roundup, November 17 – 24
Kyle V. Hiller, Broad Street Review, November 17, 2021
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Thomas Hine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 4, 2021
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Iraqi, born 1975, lives in New York, NY.
Ahmed Alsoudani, who came to the U.S. from Baghdad in the mid-1990s, is known for his vividly-colored and surreal acrylic and charcoal canvases, in which distorted, grotesque faces and body parts portray the horrors of war. This motif draws on the artist’s own experiences of recent wars in Iraq, the imagery of devastation and violence evoking a universal experience of conflict and human suffering. Alsoudani received his MFA in Painting from Yale in 2008; he also holds a BFA from Maine College of Art. In 2011, he was one of five artists representing Iraq in the Venice Biennale, the country’s first time hosting a pavilion in 35 years. The artist’s work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the Phoenix Museum of Art, and the Portland Museum of Art; recent institutional group exhibitions include Chaos and Awe: Painting for the 21st Century at the Frist Art Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art.
Ahmed Alsoudani: Bitter Fruit is supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, Maja Paumgarten Parker and John Parker, and Marlborough Gallery.
Major support of FWM is provided by the Marion Boulton “Kippy” Stroud Foundation. FWM receives state art funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Additional support is provided by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, Agnes Gund, and the Board of Directors and Members of The Fabric Workshop and Museum.