Ahmad AlKarkhi was born in Baghdad, where he obtained a degree in Fine Arts. A member of the Iraqi Artists Union and the Iraqi Plastic Arts Union, AlKarkhi worked in Iraq until 2006, when the mounting violence drove him to leave the country with his young wife and child.

After three prolific years in Damascus, where AlKarkhi created and sold no less than 240 paintings at the city’s best galleries, AlKarkhi was offered the opportunity to exhibit in the United States. He arrived in August 2009, and has since decided to settle here, and build a peaceful life for his family in his new homeland.

AlKarkhi's work has been exhibited in Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, Qatar, Paris, Sharjah, Capetown, Napoli, Qatar, Bahrain, and Washington D.C. AlKarkhi has been steadily active since his arrival in the U.S. His paintings render both his dreams, and memories of Iraq in shocks of oil, acrylic and water color. Here, AlKarkhi recalls Baghdad in a series of abstract paintings with vivid red and oranges, and pale yellows and greens, where life rubs elbows with death, and hope, energy, despair, and stillness alternate in a syncopated dance.

For more of Ahmad AlKakhri's work, click here.