M HKA Ensembles

° 1986

Born in Baghdad (IQ), lives in Antwerpen (BE).

Moataz Alqaissy: contemporary faded glory The Iraqi visual artist Moataz Alqaissy (Baghdad, °1986) has lived in Antwerp since 2009, where he studies painting and visual arts at the AP University of Applied Sciences between 2019 and 2021. His abstract visual work mainly consists of assemblages of layers of cloth, linen, cotton or tarpaulin, which he glues, deforms, surgically sews together, daubs or haphazardly nails to the wall. By using coarse materials such as wood paint, filler, cables and nails, he frees the canvas from its classical-elite status, but at the same time also from its status as a subordinate disposable material. By mixing canvas and binding agent, he sculpts works that have a raw and violent undertone.

Alqaissy finds his inspiration in diverse domains, from art history to ancient civilizations or childhood memories of Baghdad, the city that was radically reshaped by serious socio-political events. Since his stay in Belgium he has been investigating the relationship between identity and location; how a space affects a body or how space can be enclosed in a work of art. His material handling of the painting's components opens a window through which other subjects slip in. Memories of his youth and experiences with war and destruction have left dents and are reflected in the dismantling of the painting. Due to his origins, his work balances between two extremely different cultures. His monochrome canvases are characterized by their erased or faded colors that bear witness to a gray past that has lingered in tradition and personal memory. In any case, they have lost all luster. In an interview, Alqaissy says: “A city like Baghdad was a monument, but what is left of it is an excavated city that tells a story about a rich past. The city has now been mummified. It is an 'undead' city: it exists but it is not alive.” Characteristic of Moataz Alqaissy's paintings is that on the one hand they relate to the canon of classical painting and on the other hand they withdraw from it. Like his predecessors, he strives for more interaction between painter, viewer and painting by literally giving the canvas a place in space. As a primary component, the canvas must be pliable and malleable and as such emphasize the artistic process more than the result. The special international perspective that emerges from his work, with attention to the distant past and the traumas of the recent past, fits in seamlessly with the collection policy of the M HKA, which aims to highlight different positions and perspectives within the contemporary multipolar world. come.

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