Seeking political asylum, Ahmed Alsoudani (*1975 inBaghdad) leftIraq for the United States in 1999. His paintings and drawings reflect the troubled contemporary history of his home country, yet they belong to a long tradition of painting depicting war and atrocity. His work makes reference to paintings done by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century European artists as well as Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, Georg Grosz, Francis Bacon, and Philip Guston. However, he also draws inspiration from Middle Eastern art, literature, and contemporary poetry, such as the work of Lebanese artist Abbas Baythoon. He received his master's degree in Fine Art (painting) from Yale University in 2008. His work will be prominently featured at the upcoming exhibition Caught in the Middle, organized by the Honar Foundation incNew York, and at Out of Arabia at the Saatchi Gallery in London, opening in February 2009. He has an upcoming show at Goff + Rosenthal in New York. Alsoudani currently lives and works in Berlin. Exhibition schedule: The Saatchi Gallery, London, February 5– May 6, 2009  Goff + Rosenthal, New York April 30–June 13,2009