Al-Kaabi received his diploma from the Institute of Fine Art in Baghdad in 1960. Along with the Iraqi artists Jawad Selim, Fa’iq Hassan and Ismai’l Fattah, al-Kaabi contributed highly to the development of the contemporary art movement in Iraq. After experimenting with cubism and expressionism, al-Kaabi emerged in 1970 with a style of his own, where he distributed the human figures and the geometrical shapes in harmony with an atmosphere of mystery. The themes he adopted are inspired by village scenes and human relations, drawn from the rich and diverse Iraqi heritage and art. Al-Kaabi outlines his human figures and their faces, the geometric forms and the circles against a misty backdrop of a mural of antiquity thus linking them to, and projecting them against the ancient Mesopotamian civilization.
From 1966 to 1970 al-Kaabi was head of the plastic arts department in the Institute of Artistic Education in Riyadh. Al-Kaabi participated in the Venice Biennal in 1976. He was elected president of the Iraqi Plastic Artists Association from 1986 to 1990.
Al-Kaabi has won numerous awards, among them the honorable Award of Cagnes- sur-Mer Festival, France in 1980 and the Gold Medal at the Dacca Biennal in 1986.
Al-Kaabi lives and works in Los Angeles, USA.
