Mahmoud Obaidi is an Iraqi conceptual artist who lives and works between Doha and Beirut. Obtaining a BA in fine art from the Academy of Fine Arts, Baghdad in 1990, Obaidi went on to complete a Master’s of Fine Arts at the University of Guelph in Canada in 1999. The artist has also received a diploma in New Media from Ryerson University, Toronto and, in 1998, a further diploma in film producing from HIF Film Academy, Los Angeles.
Characterised by contemporary politics and a sardonic sense of humour, Obaidi works in many materials, allowing the concept behind a particular work to determine his choice of media.
Solo exhibitions include, Fragments, Katara, Qatar Museums Gallery, Doha, 2016; Fair Skies, Project Space, Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, 2016; The Replacement, Meem Gallery, Dubai, 2014 and The Replacement, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait City, 2014. Recent group exhibitions include, Living Histories, British Museum, London, 2017; Granada Pavilion, 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2017; Baghdad manifesto, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2016; In the Eye of the Thunderstorm: Effervescent Practices From the Arab World and Asia, 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2015; Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, 2013; Modernism and Iraq, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 2009.
Recent group exhibitions include: Artists Making Books: Poetry to Politics, The British Museum, London, 2023, Interactions, Istanbul Modern, 2021; Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991–2011, PS1 MoMA, NYC, 2019; Living Histories, British Museum, London, 2017; 57th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2017; Baghdad Manifesto, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2016; 56th Venice Biennale, Venice, 2015; Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, 2013; 25 Years of Arab Creativity, Instituit du Monde Arabe, Paris, 2012; Art in Iraq Today, Meem Gallery, Dubai, and Beirut Exhibition Centre, Beirut; 2011; Modernism and Iraq, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, 2009.
Mahmoud Obaidi’s work is held in multiple international institutions and museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad; Mathaf: Museum of Modern Arab Art, Doha; British Museum, London; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman; Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah; Musee d’Art Contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec and the Tidi Gallery Collection, New York.