JAVA Mar-2019

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12 <strong>JAVA</strong> MAGAZINE Photo: Rembrandt Quiballo
It’s another balmy winter evening around downtown Phoenix. There’s a DJ playing rhythmic music amid contemporary works of art and a throng of people in conversation. It’s First Friday, but we’re not on Roosevelt Row. The celebration is the opening of a new art gallery in a luxury apartment complex across from the Phoenix Art Museum. Bassim Al Shaker, the individual who made all this happen, is chatting up visitors, and there’s been a smile on his face since the doors opened. He knows to enjoy the moment, because as a young immigrant artist, nothing can be taken for granted. Al Shaker has come a long way from his hometown of Baghdad, and through it all, he has kept his positive outlook intact. The politically tenuous environment he grew up in and his near-death experience have been well documented in numerous publications, including The New York Times. The media portrayal of bombings in Iraq and neighborhoods in shambles is accurate; however, Al Shaker prefers to focus on Iraq’s rich history and the culture that has endured despite all the hardships. “The art is in our blood,” he said. “We’re the oldest country in the world. [Iraq] taught the world so many things. We taught the world how to write.” From the beginning, he was surrounded by family that had a great appreciation for the arts. “I come from an art family,” he said. “My uncles are all artists. My dad is an artist. My uncle was a famous drummer in the Middle East. They taught me a lot.” The young Al Shaker would draw every chance he got. He would draw at home or anywhere he could set his paper and pencil. He found himself in trouble for not showing up at his assigned classroom; instead, he would be in the studio drawing or painting. At an early age, Al Shaker already had the ability to render anything with precise detail. In fact, he drew so well he had to prove himself to a teacher when she did not believe he had created one particularly adept work. She told him to replicate the work in front of her. He not only replicated the image, but he improved upon it, finally convincing the teacher. This innate talent would allow Al Shaker to get into a specialized arts school. “This high school, they have music, they have actors, they have movies, everything,” he said. “Not everyone could go to this high school. You needed to have a test, and they apply every year more than eight hundred to a thousand students, and they accept just fifty to sixty. When I applied, in the beginning, my family, they didn’t know I applied to this school.” Al Shaker’s hard work and his willingness to bet on himself paid off when he was invited to an important art show that took place in Egypt. “I won a gold medal,” he said with a laugh. “It’s very funny, when I say gold medal, because I’m not a sport guy. I don’t know why they gave me a gold medal. It was for the most detailed painting in the Middle East.” After winning the award, Al Shaker returned to Iraq and attended the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad. He would hone his craft to a point where he was chosen to be one of a select group of artists to represent the country of Iraq in the 55th <strong>JAVA</strong> 13 MAGAZINE
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Page 3 and 4: NOVO AMOR Opening Act: Gia Margaret
Page 5 and 6: THE HEARD MUSEUM PRESENTS ORGANIZED
Page 7 and 8: IMMIGRATION AND THE ARTS By Robert
Page 9 and 10: For Gennaro Garcia, art is all arou
Page 11: to tag along for a road trip and gu
Page 15 and 16: TOP CHEFS 41 R E STAU RA N TS DESTI
Page 17 and 18: see the influences in shape, textur
Page 19 and 20: one to the next or devote a few min
Page 21 and 22: Fusion cuisine usually involves a m
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Page 29 and 30: Photographers: Karl Millings Sara K
Page 31 and 32: Carolina Aranibar-Fernandez comes t
Page 33 and 34: the world, and she is only just sta
Page 35 and 36: Images can tell stories that transc
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Page 39 and 40: A while ago, I was checking out and
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JAVA Mar-2019

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