Baldin Ahmad 1954 Kurdish artist~ Born in Sulaymaniyah south of Kurdistan , He lives and works now in Utrecht, Holland

Like a lost astronaut, astonished and fascinated from the immensity of the universe, sometimes I feel myself transported in the unknown, linked to this planet only by a thin thread; even if, I must say, being shipwrecked in this reign of wonders, where the loss is felt, it is very pleasant to me.

On this spaceship that we call earth, the reality that we believe to know, appears to me in some way limited and diminished, above all thinking about that parallel dimension and the vanishing of the universe, without time, without borders, made of past skies where the poetry and the language of the art are hiding: “…the stars are sweet books of verses that pass in the mute silence towards the reign of nothing writing strophes in the silver sky” (Garcia Lorca). 

For this, perhaps, in front of apparently common events like the variation of seasons, the force of a sunset, or the fury of a sea storm, I feel often overwhelmed, nearly astonished; and every time I wonder if this inadequacy of my “Being-in-the-world” is not a defect, neither a lack. It returns to my mind that, indeed, nourishing astonishment and stupor, it is just this inadequacy maintaining my solitary dream.

Like a lost astronaut, astonished and fascinated, I have left and crossed part of this small great unknown universe, carrying only with me the backpack from my father, the same which had belonged to my grandfathers and where there was a place for feelings, impulses, emotions and experiences of that world. Another world. And from the deep Kurdistan till the grey roofs of Utrecht, after having left behind the different types of white from the snow of my land, I have known the insane blue of the Mediterranean, the delicacy of Tuscan hills and the vibrating greys of the Dutch skies.

For my studies, after the Institute of Fine Arts of Baghdad, I attended the Academies of Rome and Florence, visiting as many museums as possible of the European art cities and those of the New World. This is why my background, compared with an European artist, is complex and various. A diversity that I share through every piece of my work with the ones that today live around me. 

Baldin Ahmed 2009 

53th Biennale of Venice, Italy

BIOGRAPHY

Born:
1954, Sulaymania, Iraqi Kurdistan
lives and works in Utrecht, Holland

1974
Graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad, Iraq
1974-1976
Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Italy
1976-1979
Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy
1979
Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy
1979-1982
studies of Modern Art (D.A.M.S) at the University of Bologna, Italy

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2012
Interart Gallery, Heeswijk-Dinther, Holland
2011
De Boog Gallery, IJsselstein, Holland
2011
Artlease Gallery, Utrecht, Holland
2010
Frederiek van der Vlist Gallery, Leiden, Holland
Van Loon & Simons Gallery, Vught, Holland
2009
Terbeek Gallery, Groningen, Holland
De Compagnie Gallery, Dordrecht, Holland
2008
Van Loon & Simons Gallery, Vught, Holland
L’Atlante dei luoghi immaginari, S. Vito dei Normanni, Italy
De Boog Gallery, IJsselstein, Holland
2007
Van der Plas Gallery, Olst, Holland
Bakker Gallery, Wapserveen, Holland
2006
Terbeek Gallery, Groningen, Holland
De Compagnie Gallery, Dordrecht, Holland
2005
De Boog Gallery, IJsselstein, Holland
Bakker Gallery, Wapserveen , Holland
2004
Etienne & van Loon Gallery, Oisterwijk, Holland
Van der Plas Gallery, Olst, Holland
Nijehove Gallery, Diepenheim, Holland
Hofstee Gallery, Schiedam, Holland
2003
De Boog Gallery, IJsselstein, Holland
Bakker Gallery, Wapserveen, Holland
Molenaars Gallery, Breda, Holland
K & B Gallery, Amsterdam-Sloten, Holland
2001
Fulcotheater, IJsselstein, Holland
Molenaars Gallery, Breda, Holland
2000
Mia Joosten Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
Bakker Gallery, Wapserveen, Holland
1999
Witt Gallery, Dordrecht, Holland
1998
Marijke Raaijmakers Gallery, Grubbenvorst, Holland
Anderwereld-Katuin Gallery, Groningen, Holland
Forte Gallery, Lent, Holland
1997
Witt Gallery, Dordrecht, Holland
1996
Nijehove Gallery, Diepenheim, Holland
1995
Witt Gallery, Dordrecht, Holland
De Boog Gallery, IJsselstein, Holland
1994
Anderwereld Gallery, Groningen, Holland
Art Options Gallery, Wijk bij Duurstede, Holland
Holland Art Fair Utrecht - Art Options, Utrecht, Holland
1993
Kunst Centrum Heerenveen, Heerenveen, Holland
Witt Gallery, Dordrecht, Holland
Interart Gallery, Heeswijk-Dinther, Holland
Langenberg Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
1992
Tammouz Gallery, Brussel, Belgium
De Boog Gallery, IJsselstein, Holland
De Boog Gallery, IJsselstein, Holland
Xenia Gallery, Overasselt Gld., Holland
1991
Langenberg Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
1984
Aleph Art Gallery, Milano, Italy
1980
Communal Gallery, Pesaro, Italy
Valentino Hal Teatro Nuovo, Torino, Italy
1979
Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy
Le Colonnine Gallery, Florence, Italy
1978
Teorema Gallery, Florence, Italy
1973
University of Al-Mustansirriya, Baghdad, Iraq

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010
30 years Tij, Stadhuis Utrecht, Utrecht, Holland
2009
53th Venice Biennale, “Planet-K”, Venice, Italy
2008
Interart Gallery, Heeswijk Dinther, Holland
2007
Holland Art Fair, Utrecht, Holland
2006
Année Gallery, Haarlem, Holland
2003
Outlook, National Museum, Krakov, Polland
2002
Grenzelos, Volkshalle im Wiener Rathaus, Wine, Austria
De Compagnie Gallery, Dordrecht, Holland
2001
KunstRAI - Mia Joosten Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
Art Twente – Kunstcentrum Zaandam, Hengelo
2000
KunstRAI - Mia Joosten Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland
De Boog Gallery (Baldin, Karani, Walid), IJsselstein, Holland
1999
Kurdish Art and Poetry, ”Dansk for Fatter Forening” Kopenhagen, Denmark
De Boog Gallery (Baldin, Karani, Walid), IJsselstein, Holland
1998
Anderwereld-Katuin Gallery, Groningen, Holland
1996
KunstRAI Amsterdam - Witt Gallery, Holland
PAN RAI Amsterdam - Marijke Raaijmakers Gallery, Holland
1995
Art Centre, Chateau de Buissière, Macon, France
Interart Gallery, Heeswijk-Dinther, Holland
1994
Anderwereld Gallery, Groningen, Holland
1993
Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam, Holland
‘Iraqi artists‘, Kufa Gallery, London, UK
1992
Kurdish Artists, Palazzo Patrizi, municipality of Siena, Italy
Kurdish Artists, Municipality hall, Graz, Austria
1991
Xenia Gallery, Overasselt Gld. , Holland
1990
Municipal library, S. Vito dei Normani, Brindisi, Italy
1989
“L’artista che non esiste”, Palazzo Valentini, Rome, Italy
1986
“Sette artisti Iracheni” Modern Art Gallery, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, Italy
1983
15th International Biënnale of Grafic Art, Ljubljana, former Yugoslavia
International Price of Biella, Italy
1982
Folkloristic Museum, Rome, Italy
Iraqi artists, Municipality of Montreuil, Paris, France
1981
14th International Biënnale of Grafic Art, Ljubljana, former Yugoslavia
“Iraquian Art”, Palazzo Parte Guelfa, Florence, Italy
Palazzo Cà Giustinian, Venice, Italy
1979
‘Drawing on paper’, Tunis, Tunisia
Exhibition ‘Prima Tela‘, Montova, Italy
1975
‘Iraqi artists‘, la Giada Gallery, Rome, Italy
1974
Kurdish Art Festival, Artists Association, Baghdad, Iraq

Source:Site Kurdistan ART