Diana Al-Hadid by Newcomb Art Museum

9 May - 24 Jul 2016

DIANA AL-HADID

DIANA AL-HADID 9 May - 24 July 2016

The sculptures, paintings, and drawings of

work a metaphorical “bridge” between the

Syrian-born and Ohio-raised Diana Al-Hadid

Middle Eastern world of Al-Hadid’s early

(1981 – ) are vivid and complex fusions of

childhood and the Western world—Brooklyn,

contradictions.

New York—she now inhabits.

They bring together abstraction and

By re-imagining the monuments of great

representation, construction and

civilizations as fading images or apparitions,

destruction, contemporaneity and

Al-Hadid not only challenges the viewer

historicity, solidity and fluidity, endurance

to question established notions of both

and ephemerality, fragility and strength, the

Western and Eastern cultures, she also

ruinous and the luminous.

renders those symbols mysteriously inscrutable and full of new possibilities.

Al-Hadid creates highly intricate works that draw from historical forms of architecture and art—Duccio di Buoninsegna’s The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain (1308-11) and Jacopo Pontormo’s The Deposition from the Cross (1528) as in the present exhibition—as well as folkloric and mythological stories. Nonetheless, her use of industrial materials (rebar, plaster, polymer gypsum, polystyrene, and fiberglass) in addition to textiles, cardboard, paint, and pigments, yields works

Diana Al-Hadid, Untitled, 2015, Conte, charcoal, pastel, acrylic on mylar

that are firmly grounded in contemporary idioms.

(left) Blind Bust II, 2012, Bronze, painted stainless steel. Edition 1 of 6, with 2 AP. Photo: Jason Wyche

To some scholars, the architectural and

(cover) The Weightlifters (detail), 2015, Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, plaster, aluminum leaf, pigment. Photo: Matt Grubb

textural qualities of Al-Hadid’s dense and intricate surfaces recall Arabic calligraphy and Islamic textile patterns, thus making her

All images, unless otherwise noted are Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York. © Diana Al-Hadid

Diana Al-Hadid:

something; other times, I am really fussy and

An Interview

laboriously finesse something. The work has

Conducted by Monica Ramirez-Montagut museum director and exhibition curator

often been described as ruinous, but I think that is largely coming from my temperament rather than a desire to reconstruct the

MRM: Your work has been described

illusion of decay or some other metaphor.

appearing as if “suspended in a state of either

Perhaps the methods of my construction

construction or decay.”1 To me it speaks to

could be read as having a particular social

both—to the achievements of great cultural

interpretation, but I leave that up to you or

constructions such as art, architecture,

the viewer to read. I prefer to talk about the

design, and even religious narratives, as well

things that caught my attention before or

as the inexorable passing of time and the

after a project, or the things I learned along

fragility of civilization. Can you talk about

the way. I am interested in tracing trends in

this dichotomy or, as you mention in some

my visual language, but I prefer not to offer

interviews, do your aesthetics lean toward

analytical interpretations of my work along

making history and culture appear fluid?

the lines of what those choices mean. That might ruin the fun for everyone else.

DAH: The appearance of the work is a direct result of the material process and my temperament at the moment. Sometimes I am rather aggressive with how I build

MRM: As you may know, New Orleans is often described as “the city that care forgot,” in part for its abundance of aging historic structures in varying states of disrepair and decay. Thus, I think for many in New Orleans, your work will resonate in profound ways. New Orleanians perceive the scarring and weathering of a building or object as beautiful because they represent the city, its history, and its culture. Can you tell me more about how “patina” and “aging” tell stories in your work and what kind of narratives they tell? DAH: Perhaps a better way to discuss this is not so much in terms of the “finish” of the surface, because in many ways the structure and the surface are often laminated together, not treated as separate things. So much of

Diana Al-Hadid, Untitled, 2013. Conte, charcoal, pastel, acrylic on mylar. Photo: Jason Wyche

Nancy Doll, director, Weatherspoon Art Museum

Diana Al-Hadid, The Square, 2014, Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, plaster, gold leaf, pigment. Photo: Jason Wyche

the work is open, in the sense that one can see (or easily imagine) the outside and inside simultaneously. The work is porous not only in its fabrication, meaning you can see through to the other side, but also in terms of the material itself as it allows varnishes, studio dust, fingerprints, etc. to soak in. I suppose in that sense, the work tells the story of its own construction, and sometimes the history of the object as it’s been accumulating dust and age in my studio. I do love storytelling, but I am not necessarily always telling a single linear story in my work. I take from stories and I think in stories, but I also take from and think in abstraction. Narrative and abstraction can

Diana Al-Hadid, Untitled, 2012, Conte, pastel, acrylic, charcoal on mylar. Photo: Jason Wyche

coexist. The work may not tell a specific story all the time, but it may be a record of an

DAH: As I build my work I tend to be more

event. Often it is tied to a real or imagined

preoccupied with the making before the

“event.” Real, for example, when I break,

metaphor. I think about the materials, the

burn, cut, or construct the work; imagined,

structure, the form, etc. first. I do want my

when I enlist the assistance of bees to build

work to be resilient as a practical concern.

something or a volcanic eruption directs the

I want it to ship safely and to be archival,

form. The event is simultaneously a material

but that’s more a structural issue than a

consideration as well as the development

metaphorical interpretation. I shake and

of a fictional narrative that unfolds as it is

stress the work before it leaves the studio

constructed.

many times, so what remains is largely the strongest and most secure. I suppose I want

MRM: It seems to me that your work, even

the skin and the structure to be as closely

with its seemingly precarious surfaces

bound as possible: for the object (or the

and construction demonstrates incredible

image) to be held together with just what is

resilience. Does this concept resonate with

essential. Perhaps this impulse in me means

you and your work? And, talking about

that what is left over is the most durable

resilience brings to mind New Orleans after

and lasting, and perhaps it may be read as a

Hurricane Katrina, and I wonder if it evokes

kind of resilience. I’m quite aggressive with

your native Syria?

my work, so they have to hold up to my own

fury. I’m not sure if this structural resilience

a pedestal that is fit more for an erect figure,

has a connection to the cultural resilience

but she is perhaps become too relaxed in the

of New Orleans or Syria, but it’s certainly an

sun. Anyway, that was the story I told myself

interesting thought!

as I made her, she was my first outdoor sculpture, so it seemed fitting she be affected

MRM: Can you tell me a bit more about the

by the elements.

inspiration for In Mortal Repose (2011)? MRM: Similarly, can you share with us the DAH: This work was in development for

story behind Head in the Clouds (2014)?

a couple of years as part of a residency invitation through the University of South

DAH: Head in the Clouds was exhibited for

Florida’s Graphic Studio. I had never worked

the first time in the top room of Marianne

with bronze before, but, of course, I knew

Boesky’s uptown gallery, where there was a

that it first had to be made in wax, and wax I

huge skylight. It began with the pedestal and

had used. I also had never worked with the

the head, parts salvaged from other works.

figure so directly, and I wanted to try that. I

The clay head was the original for one of the

wanted to make a woman in repose, reclining

Blind Bust sculptures, which you also have in

comfortably, self-aware, proud but not

the exhibition. The pedestal was one of a few

exactly monumental. She sits comfortably on

that were being tossed after another artist’s

Diana Al-Hadid, In Mortal Repose (detail), 2011, bronze and concrete. Photo: Jason Wyche

Diana Al-Hadid, Head in the Clouds, 2014, Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, foam, wood, plaster, clay, gold leaf, pigment. Photo: Jason Mandella

Duccio di Buoninsegna (ca. 1255−ca. 1319), The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain, 1308−11, Tempera on poplar panel (cradled). Copyright: The Frick Collection

exhibition. I responded to it in the same way

The Temptation of Christ on The Mountain,

you might respond to a new sketchbook you

which is a super bizarre and completely

are given—the size, texture, and weight all

breathtaking painting. Christ’s cloak is traced

affect the mark you make next.

with a very distinct gold outline that makes the otherwise contoured fabric look flat.

I built up the surface to create a kind of

In a similar manner, floating in front of the

moving landscape, one corner raised higher

clay head is a quick “sketch” of the face. The

and the opposite corner spilling over

figure holds a small model of my childhood

the box and cantilevering to form more

suburban house in North Canton, Ohio.

ground for the figure to rest against. I had a sentimental connection to the head, of

MRM: The panel format of such works as

course, so I wanted to honor it by setting it

The Seventh Month (2015), The Weightlifters

up high, out of reach and proud. The middle

(2015), and Mob Mentality (2014)

section constituting its “body” connects the

represents a new type of work, which is

head to the pedestal by a very thin frame

neither a purely two-dimensional painting

that is the contour drawing of a cloak in a

nor a straightforward three-dimensional

Duccio painting I saw at the Frick called

sculpture. Is it your idea that these panels

Diana Al-Hadid, Mob Mentality, 2014, polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, plaster, gold leaf, pigment. Photo: Jason Wyche

feel more like objects or that you want the

mark or “drip” of color is reinforced from the

viewer to feel surrounded by, and thus

back. The open areas are the parts that were

invested in, the depicted narrative? Are we

not “painted,” so it’s, in fact, a mostly additive

supposed to give as much relevance to what

process rather than subtractive.

is on the surface of the panel as to what is beyond that first layer? Can you share your

I suppose I think of them as both objects and

thoughts on this with us?

images, because there is an image there or at least a composition of some kind to start, but

DAH: I think you put it very well. I had a hard

it can sometimes become very smothered or

time deciding what to call these things when

obscured. But they are certainly still objects

I first started making them. Certainly they

because I’m not terribly concerned with

are in the world of paintings in some way

image-building, and I don’t study paint and

because they are made when I first “drip” an

color the way true painters do. I guess it’s

image on a wall and then of course they hang

just something else. I like that a person can

on a wall. But the process comes directly

dip in and out of the work and think about its

from my sculptures. I learned how to make

construction and it’s materiality and, like my

them from experimenting. And, of course,

other sculptures, to see through to the other

there is no canvas: they are built up as each

side. I don’t like to trap space.

Diana Al-Hadid, The Seventh Month, 2015, Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, plaster, gold leaf, pigment. Photo: Bill Orcutt

Diana Al-Hadid, The Weightlifters, 2015, Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, plaster, aluminum leaf, pigment. Photo: Matt Grubb

MRM: In a PBS Art21 episode you mention that you did not grow up in a Christian home and therefore Biblical references are not completely clear to you but you nonetheless feel this type of religious-themed art is very generous—everyone can take part in it. Works such as The Seventh Month, The Weightlifters, and Mob Mentality that are your take on Biblical-inspired Renaissance and Mannerist paintings. I find it interesting that your titles present a literal understanding of the figures as humans engaging in earthly activities. As such, the Virgin Mary is a woman in her seventh month of pregnancy, the Ascension presents a group helping to lift someone, and the Last Supper becomes a celebration of the masses. Is this a strategy that brings these narratives closer to our normal, everyday existence and, in turn, preferences?

Jacopo Pontormo,The Deposition from the Cross, c.1528, oil on wood. Cappella Capponi, Santa Felicita, Florence

DAH: That’s a lovely interpretation. I

The Weightlifters is from a Deposition,

suppose it’s the result of my thinking more

but Pontormo’s painting is striking for

about the composition of the story, or my

the incredible feeling of gravity pulling

filling in the blanks of what I don’t know, or

down on the central figure who holds up

even just reading the new direction that the

Christ in the front, and also the strange

work may take from the original reference.

levity of the figures in the top part of the

The Seventh Month is from something rather

composition. Everyone is interlocked in a

obscure, so I’m not 100% sure it’s a Mary

massive melodramatic pile. I don’t remember

figure, although it’s entirely possible. I was

exactly where Mob Mentality came from, but

taken by the image of a pregnant woman who

I remember the mass of people crowding

was also carrying a sword. I myself was in my

under a tight frame that seemed to swarm

seventh month of pregnancy. So sometimes

around a central figure, and they all became a

the work may begin in one place and end up

rhythmic blur in the end.

unites us all, regardless of our religious

somewhere entirely differently. I find a way to relate to it personally or discover it may

MRM: Appropriately, that brings us to the

have a double meaning

end of our conversation. Thank you, Diana. 13

ABOUT THE ARTIST Diana Al-Hadid received a BA in Art History and a BFA in sculpture from Kent State University and an MFA in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University. She later attended Maineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Her work is included in the collections of The Whitney Museum, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Weatherspoon Art Museum, and The Judith Rothschild Foundation, New York, among others. Al-Hadid has had solo exhibitions at the Secession in Vienna, Austria, Columbus College of Art and Design, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Nasher Sculpture Center, Centro de Arte ContemporĂĄneo, La Conservera, Nevada Museum of Art, and the Hammer Museum. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo courtesy of ART21.

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