Meet Diyar AL Asadi | Artist / Painter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Diyar AL Asadi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Diyar, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I am a young artist from Baghdad, Iraq and moved to the United States in 2012. I started painting at the age of seven, 3 year before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. My family and I eventually left for Egypt later after militants made two attempts on our lives for sectarian and political reasons. Getting inspiration from watching my mother and family trying to survive and leaving what they know to the unknown.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My artwork seeks to connect the past with the present, the spiritual with the physical. While I was trained in classic Islamic art and calligraphy, I use it as inspiration and push the boundaries as I use my artwork to explore beauty, balance, gender, religion, culture, and spirituality. My family and I have undergone immense hardship as refugees, but my artwork has been a way to channel that experience, my own reflections, and passion. Each painting, done in acrylic and precious metals, takes hundreds of hours of painstaking and detailed work and that makes me alive everyday. It wasn’t easy Watching my mother and family trying to survive and leaving what they know to the unknown. Attending that much struggle with my family at a young age made art my only option to skip to a better reality and repaint my family forgotten storie.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Uhh you came to the right person to show you some of the best hidden sunsets spots in Phx Az, because we honestly have the one of the best sky look and sunsets views with the pink or orange clouds. I been living in phx since October 2017 and I convinced my family to move here in January 2020. When they moved here the first place I took them is to papa go rock and to Phx zoo to have the experience of what the valley and desert feels. Than took them to one of the look out around beautiful houses in Scottsdale to see the sunset and we ended up in old Town for dinner. You can imagine how the rest of the week look like around phx by only being in this amazing city.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This is so amazing to have the pleasure to mention these who supported me through out my art career. But I would like to say thanks to my family who always been there to supportive. Also to my foster mom Souheila Battou, a writer who tought me the assent of art and the meaning of it to our life. Than to my amazing teachers who saw a shining star in my art and to my amazing 10years, current mentor and teacher Fatemeh PourHatami. Shout out to The {9} gallery for accounting me as a family of the gallery. And to my amazing friends artist Falah Saeedi and Mario Garcia.

Website: https://artbydiyar.wixsite.com/mysite

Instagram: @Art.by.diyar

Other: https://phxart.org/blog/diyar-al-asadi/

Image Credits
Maisarh AlAsadi Instagram @mes_iq