06/09/2024
Mohammed Sami, Infection II, 2021
Born in Baghdad in 1984, Mohammed Sami was a teenager when he got a job painting propagandistic murals of Iraqi dictator Saddamm Hussein. Sami emigrated to Sweden in 2007, later moving to London where he studied fine arts. His paintings have often taken memories in imaginary settings as their starting points. No figures are represented, but ghostly traces and presences occupy his canvases.
In Infection II, an image of Saddam Hussein hangs in a home, his fast case in a shadow. A spider houseplant likewise imparts a creepy profile, creating and unsettling contrast with the playful colors of a family home.
Photo courtesy of the artist, Modern Art, London and Luhring Augustine, New York