Iraqi artists

From BoingBoing comes a link to Kevin Sites weblog. (Kevin is an independent journalist and is currently in Iraq writing for NBC News - his weblog is a personal site though.) This is the story of an artist and his work: bq. Portrait of the Dictator as an Old Man Wisam Rady was working in his studio as usual--when he first saw the video of Saddam Hussein on a tiny five-inch black and white television. A mesmerizing image of the ragged former dictator, fresh from his "spyder hole" baring his tonsils for all the world to see. How the mighty had fallen, Wisam thought, the indignity of it all. The once defiant ruler of Iraq, now being inspected for lice. It was too much. Wisam wept. Uncontrollably. Tears of joy. There was no consoling him in his happiness. So he went to Ferdus Square, where Saddam's statue had been so famously toppled after the war. And there he danced until dark. And more - talking about his work as an editorial cartoonist for the Baath party newspaper: bq. Saddam's Ministry of Information, which oversaw the work of writers and artists during the regime, provided a list to each Iraqi newspaper of how to portray Saddam Hussein (as a symbolic Falcon), the Iraqi flag (always as a top banner,) the military (strong and heroic). bq. He shows me a collection of yellowing newspapers containing his work. They are quite nearly, I think, the black and white notes of martial music in ink. The drawings, with their flapping flags, birds of prey and unflinching defenders of the homeland, are reminiscent of the melodramatic, patriotic excess of the old Soviet propaganda machine. Wisam could do it with his eyes----and his heart closed. And did. bq. But now he uses both again. And this is what he has produced: there on the canvas in front of him in his studio, is the unmistakable visage of post-capture Saddam Hussein, his eyes vacant, his hand touching his scruffy beard ala Rodin's " The Thinker." bq. It is done in an almost Renaissance-quality, chiaroscuro. And like the work of say, a Vermeer, it is has allegorical qualities. For perched upon Saddam's shoulders are four gray rats. And more - talking about his childhood in the city of Ath Thawra: bq. It is also, the inspiration for the rats on Saddam's shoulders. bq. "There were no rats Ath Thawra," Wisam says, "And then one morning we awoke and the city was infested with them. "It was a scheme by Saddam to make the people sick." Or so the people of the city believe. There are some photos of his art on the site. Wisam's name turned up no hits on Google but hopefully that will change - I like his artwork.