OAKLAND, CA.- The sculptures and paintings of Syrian-born and Ohio-raised Diana Al-Hadid (1981- ) appear to be trapped in an eternal moment of precariousness and decay. Inspired by historical forms from art and architecture, Al-Hadid’s highly material works are charged with drips, textures, patterns, and ornaments. Two exhibitions at Mills College Art Museum (Jan 18–Mar 13, 2017) and San Jose Museum of Art (Diana Al-Hadid: Liquid City, Feb 24–Sept 24, 2017) showcase Al-Hadid’s monumental artworks with an emphasis on her artistic process and references to Italian cultural history.

DIANA AL-HADID, MILLS COLLEGE ART MUSEUM | JAN 18–MAR 13, 2017
MCAM features Diana Al-Hadid’s recent large-scale sculptures, wall constructions, and drawings which use materials that recall Arabic calligraphy and Islamic textile patterns. The works have been described as metaphorical “bridges” between the past and the present, as well as cultural bridges between the Middle Eastern world of Al-Hadid’s early childhood and the Western world she now inhabits.

Works in the exhibition draw from Duccio di Buoninsegna’s The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain (1308-11) and Jacopo Pontormo’s The Deposition from the Cross (1528), as well as folkloric and mythological stories. Her use of industrial materials (rebar, plaster, polymer gypsum, polystyrene, and fiberglass) in addition to textiles, cardboard, paint, and pigments, yields works that are firmly grounded in contemporary idioms.

By re-imagining the monuments of great civilizations as fading images or apparitions, Al-Hadid not only challenges the viewer to question established notions of both Western and Eastern cultures, she also renders those symbols mysteriously inscrutable and full of new possibilities.

This exhibition is being presented simultaneously with an exhibition of photographic portraits by Elena Dorfman entitled Elena Dorfman: Syria’s Lost Generation.

DIANA AL-HADID: LIQUID CITY, SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART | FEB 24–SEPT 24, 2017
Diana Al-Hadid’s monumental sculpture Nolli’s Orders (2012) will anchor SJMA’s central skylight gallery like a baroque fountain enlivening a public piazza in Rome. Referring to Giambattista Nolli’s 1748 map of Rome in the sculpture, Al-Hadid brings together themes from architecture, the history of art, and urban planning. Al-Hadid is fascinated by boundaries—where something begins and ends and how we define or belong to a place (be it architectural, sculptural, or experiential). She explores the spaces between two-dimensional mark-making and three-dimensional sculpture, the real and imagined, interior and exterior, belonging and alienation, the ruin and the yet-to-be-completed. Diana Al-Hadid: Liquid City spotlights the artist’s personal emphasis on creative process. It will include wall works that pertain to architectural themes, including sculptural pieces of polymer gypsum and drawings on mylar from the artist’s personal collection. Primary source materials by Italian masters to whom Al-Hadid refers will also be included.

Liquid City is one of a trio of projects in which SJMA explores issues related to water. With California in the sixth year of drought, these issues are at the forefront of political, social, legal, and artistic activism. San Jose Museum of Art will present exhibitions and programs that encourage visitors to reflect on the precious yet public nature of this natural resource. The series also includes Fragile Waters: Photographs by Ansel Adams, Ernest H. Brooks II, and Dorothy Kerper Monnelly (March 17, 2017 – August 6, 2017) and The Darkened Mirror: Global Perspectives on Water (April 7, 2017 – August 27, 2017).