Spring 2007
Art Comment Quarterly
Surrendering to the Spirit of the Dome
The latest artist member of ArtVitae.com (our sponsor) to be "discovered" by the well-respected and widely read International Artist Magazine is Ecuadorian painter David Moscoso.
Moscoso's truly amazing and facinating story "Surrendering to the Spirit of the Dome" is well worth seeking out. You can find the International Artist Magazine's April/May 2007 issue at your local retailer or, if you can't find it there, go to www.internationalartist.com.
Art? Why not?
By Cindi Eggers
American artist and writer
I think we all have had that moment, when we felt that a proverbial "thump in the head" you know that something big is about to happen. That moment happened for me a year ago in September 2005.
And as I am wont to do, I was scanning the internet sipping some tea, reading the news and checking my email. Nothing unusual, nothing out of the ordinary. I had been staying with my mother- actually- taking care of her for she had been laid up with a temporary back injury. I had already been there three months after feeling that I needed to make a change in my life. After giving my life much thought, I decided to do what I before had only read aboutÉ. I resigned my job. Chucked it all in, cashed it out, whatever phrase you would like to use- that's what I did and moved home to give myself the summer to review my options and re-evaluate my goals in life.
It was a warm morning that day in mid September, and I was reading the AP news online when I clicked on one article that struck my interest, a feature about an artist in Baghdad and his circumstances. There, positioned on the right hand side of the article, was a small picture of a painting done in the most beautiful colors of blues and gold's. Lovely! Eye catching! I couldn't take my eyes off of it. "Thoughts of food and freedom" was the name of this painting, and I was awe- struck by the beauty of it. I read the article and was moved to tears over the story of this artist and his struggle to work and even to eat, all this because of the war.
I even went further and checked out the artists work on the website, Artvitae.com and deciding that since I had a little money to invest, why not invest in art? And this artist! Art? Why not?
I then made a few phone calls and made my first foray into the art-investment world. Elated that "Thoughts of food and freedom" was still available for purchase, I put a deposit on it and placed the article in my favorite places online.
A few days later, I went back to the link and decided to check out the rest of the paintings by this artist, Esam Pasha.
It was then the "thump in the head" hit me. I saw Esam's picture. I knew then and there, that come hell or high water, I had to meet this man. This started a series of emails and phone calls back and forth from him and I.
That was over a year ago. "Thoughts of food and freedom" now hangs in our living room in Connecticut, USA."
Esam Pasha has made a name for himself through his free study of art and has exhibited all over the world, while I have not. I had previously painted, but
not professionally in the past. My previous career choices have been varied and some would say, large- a radio talk show host and law enforcement. I now take my painting seriously and paint to sell. I had my first exhibition of my work this past summer in a studio in North Haven, CT.
Esam, on the other hand, has always been busy art-wise and especially so since he has been in the U.S. He has exhibited in fashionable SoHo in New York City number of times and also in Brooklyn NYC. He also had a large solo show at University of Connecticut at the Branford Museum, in where he also spoke and showed a documentary film in which he is also featured, about Iraq and the war.
The film was in French, however that was not a problem since Esam is multi lingual and translated for the audience. I tease him frequently that he knows fifty languages, however I do believe it is more like five languages fluently, with three others that he is "working on" (however, to my ears he is fluent in them all. Esam is attempting to teach me Arabic, however I am struggling with it for I tell him I wasn't born downloaded with language 2.0. or even 1.0 for that matter.
I have resorted to hanging words in Arabic around the house, planted here and there on the associated objects. One must do what works for one, I always say.
Esam is doing so well here, he has fit right in. He has his artwork exhibited here, apart from other art projects he has going on. He also been featured as a speaker for several colleges and groups. He recently was on television here a number of times, CNN and CBS to name a few- speaking and answering questions about himself and Iraq.
In between his painting and speaking, Esam is working on his book. It is about the experience he has been living with his art and the war in Iraq. As some might know, he is already mentioned in numerous books already. I know his book will feature some photo's not previously seen in other publications, most from his private Iraqi collection.
He soon will be looking for a publisher for it, for the book is about to be complete.
As for myself, I am also writing a book. I will tell you it is fiction loosely based on my days as a police officer. Some people have a hard time believing I once was a cop, but I was. My book is coming along nicely (it has a humorous slant) and I had hoped to be done with it by February, however I now have another project in the works. This is cinematic art, for I landed a part in a movie that should be out sometime this next year.
I can tell you that the movie is a "dark" comedy and the name of this film is "Inclusions". I am quite motivated by this new phase of my life, I hope to make the most of it. The only downside of it, if there is one, is that it will slow down the progress of the book. However, I am a workaholic and thrive on activity, so this will be a forward challenge for me.
I like to think that I am one of the most optimistic people I know. I love challenges and I am a glass-half-full kind of person. With that said, if you would of told me even three years ago that this would be my life and schedule today. I would have had to say that was one tall order - even for me, ever the optimist!
All this because I followed my gut and read an article and saw a painting- and said, "Art? Why not".
Thanks ArtVitae!
- - Cindi Eggers - Winter 2006/7
Following, are some words from Esam Pasha:
I like painting in big scales and I have already executed a big panorama for the UN building. After the war, I painted over Saddam's huge mural. Saddam used to have his murals made on big concrete walls standing on a plinth has a few steps up.
After the war, Saddam's portraits were defaced with mud and black paint and graffiti. It looked bad and war-like, standing there with marks of peoples anger and pain on them. For me it was time to rebuild the city, time for positive work to take place.
One of the first things I thought about was using those murals to put something artistic and promising in the heart of Baghdad. It would be dangerous but also beautiful and inviting for others to do the same and start rebuilding the city. So, I proposed to the Iraqi government and the coalition with a project supported by sketches and my fees. It was approved, so I got a ladder and started work right away - removing the old portrait and replacing it with a beautiful mural of Baghdad as I expressed it with my brush.
Surviving four wars and almost the same number of incidents that almost ended my life, I left my country. I came to the new world leaving the old one inside of me memories - memories of saving a national treasure for my country, a big painting by the famous Spanish painter Juan Miro. Also memories of my art projects I completed in Iraq. I served my country in every possible way. It's a relief to think that there was nothing more I could have done while in there.
I am staying now in the US. I came here in June of 2005. I toured a number of states then spent most of the time in the east coast. I lived in NYC for a few months until I got an art grant in the Griffis art center in Connecticut. That's where I got together with my Cindi, who came to stay with me from Ohio. After my time in the art center was over, we stayed together in Connecticut. I held a solo exhibition in the Branford House museum in Connecticut University. I also participated in a number of exhibitions in SoHo, NYC. I am currently painting and planning for more exhibitions. Also, I am working on a book-I am writing about Iraq, as I experienced it through the three important stages before, during and after the war. It is one of the most important projects I have worked on. I am writing the book in English, so far it is coming along very nicely.
The events and environment that I have been through affected my art works, no doubt about that. But since the major events were political, I just let it flow and appear through my experience and never force them into my artworks, because forcing them in would turn my paintings from works of art to a political statement that bore people and interest nobody. I don't give them a scene with a stiff idea to stimulate their feelings (not that there is anything wrong to focus on ideas before emotions, but it is just the path I took for my art process). Human fears and worries are what I care for to inspire me, not bombs and bullets and so on. One of the hardest things on artists is to talk about their art and describe it. It is what I am thinking about and find my way through the art performance, which is hard to be put into words by the performer. It is better to be discussed by the art critics.
--Esam Pasha, Winter 2006
Cind Eggers and Esam Pasha are currently residing in Connecticut. Both are available for speaking engagements. . For further information you can contact them at their websites at
www.artvitae.com/esampasha and www.artvitae.com/cindieggers
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