Muatasim Al Kubaisy speaks to his artistic practice of the past two decades. He carves bronze sculptures of relatively small military figures, and in a mode inspired from caricature, he sardonically represents them as plump, deformed, malicious, and ridiculous. While Al Kubaisy’s sculpture is grounded in the fine arts, since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 he has steered his practice to confront the tyranny of murder machines.

Muatasim Al Kubaisy was born in Iraq. He graduated in 1992 from the University of Baghdad’s Fine Arts Academy. His solo exhibitions include M-Gallery (2004), Paris; XVA-Gallery (2008), Dubai; the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation (2009), Abu Dhabi; Etihad Modern Art Gallery, Abu Dhabi; and Al Owais Cultural Foundation, Dubai (2017). His work has appeared in private collections across the UAE. He has produced numerous public sculptures.

Among his key achievements are the gold-plated ceramic mural memorializing the late H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in Al-Ain Palace Museum, Abu Dhabi; Al Hosn Roundabout in Umm Al-Quwain, and many horse statues for Shadwell Arabian Horses Farm, as well as numerous horse statues housed in private farms across the Emirate of Dubai. Prizes include the first Young Artists Award in Baghdad (2005). Since 2012, he is the head of the sculpture department at the College of Fine Arts in Sharjah, UAE.