Installation view of Diana Al-Hadid, Nothing is Stable at The Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery. Image courtesy of Welch School Gallery and photography by Travis Dodd.
Installation view of Diana Al-Hadid, Nothing is Stable at GSU. Image courtesy of Welch School Gallery and photography by Travis Dodd.
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Diana Al-Hadid, Synonym (4), 2016; polymer modified gypsum, fiberglass, stainless steel, pigment, edition 4 of 5, with 1 AP. Image courtesy of Welch School Gallery and photography by Travis Dodd.
Visually and thematically, Al-Hadid draws on Middle Eastern and Western cultures and iconographies, often combining and re-contextualizing wide-ranging historical sources. She has found inspiration in ancient maps, miniature painting, architectural designs and illuminated manuscripts. Her artworks are spatially complex with richly varied surfaces and hauntingly mutable forms. Despite their structural integrity and skilled fabrication, a sense of ruination pervades them. Nothing is Stable derives its title from Al-Hadid’s description of the improvisational and unpredictable nature of her artistic processes. The phrase equally accommodates the artwork’s impression of fragility and ruination, its material and perceptual contradictions and its construal of history as a living and ever-changing process.
from the accompanying exhibition text by Associate Professor of Art History Susan Richmond
Diana Al-Hadid, VolcanicSplit, 2018; polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, copper leafing, aluminum leafing, pigment, 63 x 165.5 x 5.75 inches. Image courtesy of Welch School Gallery and photography by Travis Dodd.
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Diana Al-Hadid, The Drifter, 2014; polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, polystyrene, wood, plaster, clay, pigment, 79 x 41 x 52 inches. Image courtesy of Welch School Gallery and photography by Travis Dodd.
Detail of Diana Al-Hadid, Synonym (4), 2016; polymer modified gypsum, fiberglass, stainless steel, pigment. Image courtesy of Welch School Gallery and photography by Travis Dodd.
Installation view of Diana Al-Hadid, Nothing is Stable at Welch School Gallery. Image courtesy of GSU and photography by Travis Dodd.
Diana Al-Hadid: Nothing is Stable is on view at The Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design Gallery in Atlanta, through March 5, 2021.
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