GALLERY ISA PRESENTS A SOLO SHOW AN EXCHANGE BETWEEN CLOUDS AND ROCKS BY DIANA AL- HADID ON TILL 18 MAY, 2021
Galerie Isa is pleased to present An Exchange Between Clouds and Rocks, an exhibition featuring new works by Brooklyn-based artist Diana Al-Hadid. The eight works on debut in the exhibition were painted at a time when the world stopped, when we were suspended in what felt like a non-linear timeline – waiting as we began a long process to redefine and realign the self. This body of work at Galerie Isa is, amongst many things, an acknowledgement of that stillness, encased in a time present, while also rooted in a time past.
Al-Hadid returns to her inquiry of legends and tales of women in captivity in her work titled, An Exchange between Clouds and Rocks. This work takes as its starting point Jan Gossaert’s Danae (1527), a painting of the ancient Greek myth which tells the story of a princess imprisoned in a bronze chamber to
prevent a prophecy that foretells the death of the king, and transforms the event into an atmospheric mist.
As we move through Al-Hadid’s works, we are drawn by the materiality of her creations. She uses common day sculpture and construction materials such as polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, plaster, pigment and metal leaf to build paintings from the ground up. Al-Hadid describes her work as a process “somewhere between fresco and tapestry,” both mediums that are built layer upon layer. Al-Hadid’s inspirations follow an imaginary journey beginning at the site of her most recent exhibition in Belgium, stopping in her birth country of Syria, and ending finally in 17th century India.
In other works, such as A Complex Garden, Palace, Harem, inspired by a miniature painting of the Mughal court in its years of decline, is a panoramic view of a garden complex with concubines enjoying a “pleasant but enforced idleness,” as is noted in the collections catalog.
Finally, the exhibition’s largest panel, titled Al Qa’a brings us to the waiting room of a mansion built over Roman architecture in Damascus, Syria. Centered around a courtyard with patterned floors and a fountain hidden in the heart of the labyrinthian historic marketplace, or “souk.” This painting of a room offers the viewer a moment of respite, to be still among the layers of surrounding history. While each of these 8 panels bring with them a host of Christian, Muslim and mythological iconographies, her work stands at opposite ends of these worlds and like the medium of her work, these too stretch across the empty spaces in stillness and in conversation.
The physical show is exhibited at Gallery Isa, Mumbai open to viewing by public and online on the gallery website from the 18th March, 2021 till 28th May, 2021.
