"Shaker Hassan al Said’s Al Jidar (The Wall, No. 3) (1992) marks a significant period in the Iraqi artist’s body of work: the culminating stage of his aesthetic theory, al bua’d al-wahid (one dimension), which grappled with the relationship between time and space. In these later works, Al Said sought to transcend the two-dimensional surface of the canvas through physical impingements upon the canvas such as burning or slashing. Furthermore, letters and numerals, for Al Said, served as a point of departure towards the pure plastic value of line as he sought to transcend the figures’ linguistic and cultural identities. The formal language of The Wall, No. 3 thus underscores Al Said’s deep investment in aesthetic theory."

"In 1990, with the onset of the first Gulf War, Al Said left Baghdad for the Jordanian capital. Working closely with Shoman, Al Said directed a lecture series on contemporary Arab art that took place over a two-year period at the Scientific and Cultural Center at the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation. [...] Furthermore, the lectures were published in 1995 as Hiwar al-Fan al-Tashikly (Dialogues on Art), making a substantial contribution to the region’s art history—one that predates the contemporary flurry of archiving practices."

- Excerpts from 'Histories in the Making: The Khalid Shoman Collection and Darat al Funun' by Sarah Rogers
Arab Art Histories - The Khalid Shoman Collection, published by The Khalid Shoman Foundation, 2013