I’m Kamal Al-Lami I was born in Al-amara, Iraq in 1990. I moved to Jordan once I was five, and then to Arizona in America once I was six.
I went to Deer Valley High school while taking College classes in my local community college. I studied biology, physics, history, chemistry, writing, art, and music. I did really well in my science classes to the point where I wanted to be in the medical field, but I realized that I can do so much more with my art skills seeing as it is not time consuming and stressful as studying for 12 years after high school. I still love all of the sciences and I learn about them on my own time.
I have been drawing since I was very little. I started drawing extensively once I watched the movie Jurassic Park by Steven Spielberg. The movie made me go crazy over dinosaurs, and even till now I still draw dinosaurs. Since dinosaurs are so detailed and big, they gave me a lot of technique in my drawing.
I started getting better once I met my Art teacher Mr. Wingert. He was my ceramics teacher and we made sculptures out of clay throughout the year. He is my biggest artistic influence because he himself was a great artists and we both shared the same art styles. He taught me how to draw on his own time since it was not a drawing class.
After I decided to make art my profession for the future, I started looking at a lot of different famous and amateur artists. My favorite artists that influence me to get better are Salvador Dali, MC escher, HR Giger, Heironymous Bosch, and a lot of artists that aren’t as famous. If you ever look at these artists you would know that all of them have art that isn’t realistic. MY art is filled with things like theirs that don’t make sense but still look pretty. My favorite art styles are Psychedelic because of the colors, Surrealism because of the nonsense and beauty, and fantasy because of the imagination.
I also really love music and I make it a part of my art habits. Every time I draw or paint I Listen to music. My favorite types of music are classical, Jazz, flamenco, and famous Arabic music like Feyrouz, Abdel Wahab, Karim Mansour, Sadoon Jabir, Hussein Nima. I only like music with instruments, sometimes with vocals but just the instruments mostly. I’m learning how to play guitar and piano because i love Beethoven and Mozart and jazz guitar.
Right now I go to Arizona State University during my regular school schedule and to Glendale community college during the summer so I can hurry up and graduate. I’m starting to take a lot of art classes that involve sculpting and graphic design because i also want to start making art on the computer.
As an artist, I want to do a lot of things with my art, not just sell it as everyone thinks is the only way artists make money. I want to be a traditional artist that sells art. I want to be a Tattoo artist, just as a hobby. I want to be a concept artist for the film and video game industry. First I am going to become an art instructor at the university level so I can save money to do the other things.
The person who helped me the most with my art was my mother because she always loved art and bought me things for drawing. Anytime I wanted something new for art she would get it for me and that helped me stay an artist. I hope I will repay my mom one day
I hope to exhibit my work in Iraq one day.
