Creating a Spatial and Psychological Terrain: Artist Diana Al-Hadid

Presented October 22, 2011 at the Nasher Sculpture Center.
Diana Al-Hadid (b. 1981, Allepo, Syria; raised in Cleveland, Ohio, USA) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. In this 360 Speaker Series presentation she speaks in conjunction with her Sightings exhibition at the Nasher Sculpture Center. For 'Sightings', Al-Hadid created a new work entitled 'Gradiva’s Fourth Wall', which presented a tiered space spilling out of unfinished cubic pedestals, with columns rising above and descending, where they seemed to soften into curtains. The work built upon many of the fascinations that have occupied the artist, packing them densely into a complex spatial and psychological terrain.
Al-Hadid is known for her works on Mylar, panels and monumental sculptures of seemingly impossible architecture and abstracted imagery. Working with common materials, including polymer gypsum, plaster, fiberglass, wood, and steel, Al-Hadid creates structures that simultaneously soar and dissolve in space, in part due to an interest in the object’s relationship to the ground and studied engineering. At first glance it would appear the artist removes material to reveal the form. But her approach is in fact additive, the result of methodical layering and controlled drips, best exemplified by the panels-a perfect marriage of her drawing and sculpture practices. With a technique not dissimilar to fresco, she impregnates the material with pigment, creating paintings that can imbed directly into the architecture or hang on the wall. Al-Hadid’s rich, formal allusions cross cultures and disciplines, drawing inspiration from myriad sources including architecture, ancient invention, science, myth, and Old Master works. The latter prompted less by subject matter, but rather the Renaissance artists’ examination and demonstration of perspective. Al-Hadid has further expanded her practice to include outdoor sculpture.
Al-Hadid has earned a BFA (Sculpture) and BA (Art History) from Kent State University (2003), an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (2005), and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2007). She has been a resident at the USF Institute for Research in Art (2010), Artist-in-the-Marketplace Program at the Bronx Museum (2006), Vermont Studio Center (2006), and Sculpture Space (2005). Awards and honors include grants from The Joan Mitchell Foundation (2001), Nucci Award (2010), Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation (2009), United States Artists, Rockefeller Fellow (2009), and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation (2007). He work has been included in many exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally.
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Radiant, sublime and fathomless. Visions of future work and intention leak out her eyes as does her excitement for life and perceptions. Love this talk. Thanks.