Featured Two pastel (?) drawings, can you read the sig and are they likely student pieces?

Hi all! OK, these are my latest oddball pieces . No-one was interested in them at an auction, I thought they were quirky (one maybe a little creepy) so got them pretty cheaply. They both measure 13.25"H x 11.5"W and are behind glass. Are they pastel or chalk drawing? I can't make out the sig, something beginning with "S". Do you think student pieces or a little more skilled? Any feedback appreciated, thank you!

 

Shwan
https://artvalue.ca/artist/Shwan/value/4356888/
"Shwan is a Canadian painter."

 

interesting concept !!

 

Oh goodness, well done you!! Amazing detective work, and I'm in Canada so that fits too. Thank you!

 

https://level1gallery.com/collectio...dMqvAwyDq4Jm1dmsdUKk7g7XbxeZg5IsM5fdJg4G-NLXG

"Shwan Ziwar
Half-Kurd, half-Kazakh, Shwan was born in a city in the south of Iraq in 1955. At a young age, he already showed a strong desire to learn to paint, but his refusal to join his country's single party closed the doors of art schools to him. Thus, he proceeded to Italy in 1977, and earned a diploma from the Fine Arts Academy of Perugia in 1982. The precariousness of his status and the fear of being sent back to Iraq encouraged him to immigrate to Canada, where, he was told, the standard of living was high. He arrived in Edmonton in 1983, but preferred to settle in Toronto, where the artistic milieu seemed to him more dynamic.

During his years of study in Italy, he was attracted to several artists, in particular Bori, Tapiés and Miró-and later to the American abstract painters of the groupAction Painting and Willem de Kooning. Wishing to innovate, he systematically copied the works he admired in order to discover their secrets. Audacious, he used unusual materials and supports such as coffee, wine, nail polish, vinyl tiles and photographic paper, and invented new techniques. He has essentially developed two approaches in his art: the first, more aesthetic, pays particular attention to the composition of the painting; the second, more playful, is inspired by popular Arab culture."

 

I feel the most happy when I, as a human being, can be helping another human being. I want to be able to say that I have helped even one person.



This is a quote from Shwan
It's followed by:
I believe that my art is making such a difference.

https://lfagallery.net/shwan-ziwar/#ziwar

 

And you helped me, so the artist's quote is doubly meaningful! Thanks again, I'm so pleased to learn about Shwan

 

Android ?

 

That was my very first thought! I loved the Mad magazine growing up!!!!

 

Yup. Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy from Mad and the other looks like the Flying Nun.

 

sally field ?, god she was pretty

 

oh heck yah !!!!!!