Diana Al-Hadid
Encyclopedia
Diana Al-Hadid is a contemporary artist
. She was born in Aleppo
, Syria
, in 1981 and lives and works in Brooklyn
, New York
. She received a BA
in Art History and a BFA
in sculpture
from Kent State University
in Ohio (2003), an MFA
sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University
, Richmond
(2005), and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine
(2007).
s from media such as polystyrene, plaster, fiberglass, wood, and wax. These materials combine to give the works the sense of extreme fragility and immediacy, contrasting with their monumental scale and sturdy construction. The physicality of her work helps to articulate her concern with the inevitable crumbling of ambitious human constructions. The Tower of Babel
, medieval cathedrals such as Chartres
, and labyrinths such as the labyrinth
at Crete
are among the many references Al-Hadid uses to illustrate her all at once grandly historical and deeply personal themes.
Her show, titled, Reverse Collider (2008), integrates her interest in "impossible architecture" with the modern scientific instrument which has inspired the exhibition's title, the Large Hadron Collider
(LHC). For Al-Hadid, this particle accelerator signifies an "argument against infinity" http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/28490/diana-al-hadid-in-new-york/ It is a reminder, like the Tower of Babel, of dangers of hubris and cyclical nature of creation and destruction.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. She was born in Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, in 1981 and lives and works in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. She received a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Art History and a BFA
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
in sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
from Kent State University
Kent State University
Kent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
in Ohio (2003), an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...
, Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
(2005), and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine
Skowhegan, Maine
Skowhegan is the county seat of Somerset County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 8,824. Every August, Skowhegan hosts the annual Skowhegan State Fair, the oldest continuous state fair in the United States...
(2007).
Artistic practice
Al-Hadid constructs large, architectural sculptureSculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s from media such as polystyrene, plaster, fiberglass, wood, and wax. These materials combine to give the works the sense of extreme fragility and immediacy, contrasting with their monumental scale and sturdy construction. The physicality of her work helps to articulate her concern with the inevitable crumbling of ambitious human constructions. The Tower of Babel
Tower of Babel
The Tower of Babel , according to the Book of Genesis, was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar .According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where...
, medieval cathedrals such as Chartres
Chartres
Chartres is a commune and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is located southwest of Paris.-Geography:Chartres is built on the left bank of the Eure River, on a hill crowned by its famous cathedral, the spires of which are a landmark in the surrounding country...
, and labyrinths such as the labyrinth
Labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...
at Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
are among the many references Al-Hadid uses to illustrate her all at once grandly historical and deeply personal themes.
Her show, titled, Reverse Collider (2008), integrates her interest in "impossible architecture" with the modern scientific instrument which has inspired the exhibition's title, the Large Hadron Collider
Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....
(LHC). For Al-Hadid, this particle accelerator signifies an "argument against infinity" http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/28490/diana-al-hadid-in-new-york/ It is a reminder, like the Tower of Babel, of dangers of hubris and cyclical nature of creation and destruction.
Selected solo exhibitions
- Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX (2011)
- La Conservera, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Murcia, Spain (2011)
- Water Thief, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles CA (2010)
- Reverse Collider, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY (2008)
- Record of a Mortal Universe, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY (2007)
- The Gradual Approach of My Disintegration, Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, New York, NY (2006)
- Pangaea's Blanket (and the Slowest Descent from Grace), Visual Arts Gallery, DePauw University, Greencastle, IN(2006)
- The Fourth Room, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (2006)
- Immodest Mountain, Arlington Art Center, Washington, D.C. (2006)
Selected group exhibitions
- Miami,FL, OHWOWOHWOWOHWOW is a contemporary art gallery, publisher, and producer of special projects, established in 2008 by Al Moran and Aaron Bondaroff in Miami, now with exhibition and retail locations in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City.- About :...
, Art Basel Miami Beach, IT AIN’T FAIR 2010,(2010) - Syracuse, NY, Syracuse University Art Galleries, Run and Tell That! New work from New York, (2011)
- Greensboro, NC, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Art on Paper 2010: The 41st Exhibition,(2011)
- London and Lille, France, Saatchi Gallery, The Silk Road, (2010)
- Miami, Florida, Frederic Snitzer Gallery, Paper, (2010)
- Rome Italy, Federica Schiavo Gallery, Does the Angle Between Two Walls Have a Happy Ending, (2010)
- Tampa, FL, USF, Contemporary Art Museum, New Weather, (2010)
- Abu Dhabi, UAE, Manarat Al Saadiyat, Saadiyat Island, Disorientation II, (2009)
- Gainesville, FL, UF University Galleries, Fresh From Chelsea, (2009)
- Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Next Wave Festival, (2009)
- Istanbul, Turkey, In the Between, (2009)
- Watou, Belgium. Watou 2009, Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue?, (2009)
- New York, NY, Academy of Arts & Letters, Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, (2009)
- United Arab Emirates, The Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah Biennial 9, (2009)
- London, UK, The Saatchi Gallery, Unveiled: New Art From the Middle East, (2009)
- Black Bile, Red Humour: Aspects of Melancholy, curated by Oliver Zybok, Center for Arts and Culture, Montabaur, Germany (2008)
- Agitation and Repose, curated by Gregory Volk and Sabine Russ, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY (2007)
- Blood Meridian, curated by David Hunt, Galerie Michael Janssen, Berlin, Germany (2007)
Awards
- Nucci Award, USF Graphicstudio, Tampa, FL (2010)
- Nimoy Foundation Award to support artist residency at USF Institute for Research in Art (2010)
- Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant (2009)
- United States ArtistsUnited States ArtistsUnited States Artists is an independent nonprofit and nongovernmental philanthropic organization based in Los Angeles, California and dedicated to supporting the work of living American artists by the granting of cash awards, called USA Fellowships...
Rockefeller Fellow (2009) - New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Sculpture (2009)
- Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, NY (2007)
- Residency at Artist-in-the-Marketplace Program, Bronx Museum, New York, NY (2006)
- Residency with Full Fellowship at Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, NY (2006)
- Residency at Sculpture Space, Utica, NY (2006)
External links
- Images of works at Diana Al-Hadid's website
- Online sculpture gallery at Guernica MagazineGuernica MagazineGuernica / A Magazine of Art and Politics is a biweekly online site that publishes art and photography, fiction, and poetry, from around the world, along with nonfiction such as letters from abroad, investigative pieces and opinion pieces on international affairs and U.S. domestic policy...
- Diana Al-Hadid New York City Gallery
- Diana Al-Hadid Berlin Gallery
- Marianne Boesky Gallery gallery.com/