blog: September 2011

In November next year, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will present Diana Al-Hadid and Barb Hunt, an exhibition devoted to the two artists as a means of expressing their personal works which will tie together the focus of construction in a socio-cultural context. Throughout history, artists utilise their works as a channel to portray their personal aesthetic. Syrian artist, Diana Al-Hadid’s work presents displays of sculptures in ruin as Al-Hadid works with a broad range of mediums to produce an intriguing installation. Al-Hadid focuses on the everlasting concern and assured crumbling of ambitious human constructions. Barb Hunt utilises craft methods of Newfoundland to create sculptures to portray her concern with several destructions around the world. Focusing on femininity, Hunt creates sculptures through juxtaposition of feminine issues with masculine materials. Whilst Al-Hadid and Hunt focus on very different aspects, use contrasting materials, both artists enable to create the same meaning through an entirely different intentions. Located at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Curating Al-Hadid and Hunt will present an engaging atmosphere, in which the viewer will be able to be intuitively connected with the artists and the exhibition as a whole.

Diana Al-Hadid

Juxtaposing western iconography with eastern references, Diana Al-Hadid is recognised for her installation sculptures which intertwines history, place and self. Combining a broad range of materials, Al-Hadid produces multi-layered constructions - towers, labyrinths, pipe organs and stairs which evoke emotions of unrest and unstableness and consequently creates a “quiet catastroph e”. Bridging her two cultures, Al-Hadid intends to explore the lifestyle of ruins from the past and the future and thus in turn gives form to the paradoxical adherence and detachment that she has felt towards both (The Gradual Approach of My Disintegration). Creating architectural sculptures, Al-Hadid creates larger than human scale pieces which inevitably allows one to comfortably observe a 360 degree view of her pieces. Of what Al-Hadid entitles her sculptures as “impossible architecture”, Al- Hadid uses a broad range of interdependent mediums and plays on the reconstruction of materials to re-create an uninhibited scene of ruin. In combination with a variety of materials, Diana Al-Hadid focuses on the concern with the inevitable crumbling of ambitious human constructions (Sculptor Diana Al-Hadid)

Curating Al-Hadid and Hunt will exhibit Diana Al-Hadid’s 2010 sculpture titled “Water Thief” and her 2008 piece titled “Built From Our Tallest Tales”.

Water Thief pays much tribute to her culture, as the piece was inspired by a water clock built in 1206 not far from Al-Hadid’s home town of Aleppo, Syria (About Diana Al-Hadid). Water Thief displays her ability to recreate ruin whilst allowing her sculptures to appear unrefined. Various aspects of the sculpture includes wheels, gears, pipes, channels are created out of unexpected materials of polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, polystyrene, plaster and wood. Using unpredictable materials allows Al-Hadid to effectively an effortless combine the sculpture harmoniously together. Whilst this work is absent of Al-Hadid’s accustomed media of utilising geometric shape, the Water Thief is able to embody Al-Hadid’s natural atmosphere of chaos and yet at the same time display a curious sense of beauty. The pale colour palate throughout the installation conjures creativity and a lasting strength which overall allows the viewer to adhere the spiritual innovation and architectural ambitions, affixed with the past.

Built From Our Tallest Tales evokes the Biblical myth of the of the Tower of Babel, to create a visually monumental sculpture. The installation truly displays Al-Hadid’s architectural abilities through her repetition of geometric octagons and wooden structure of metal armour. The use of wood, metal, polystyrene, gypsum polymer, fibreglass plastic, concrete and paint utilises the contemporary construction in conjunction with the honeycomb panels. Therefore, merging both human and natural constructions to portray the unfailing communication needed to accomplish any collective undertaking, which here is imperilled by its own excess (Built from Our Tallest Tales). Built From Our Tallest Tales depicts the Babel myth as it reveals the origin of men through synthesising between east and west.

Diana Al-Hadid has enabled to combine cultures and explicitly tell stories of ruin through her architectural sculptures. Through Al-Hadid's personal aesthetic, she is able to portray her concern for human destruction through her extensive use of materials which cohesively synthesise to allow for her meaning to transpire.

Water Thief, 2010

(Polymer Gypsum, Fibreglass, Steel, Polystyrene, Plaster, Wood)

Built From Our Tallest Tales, 2008

(Wood, Metal, Polystyrene, Polymer Gypsum, Fibreglass, Plastic, Concrete, Paint)

Barb Hunt

Heavily influenced by her cultural background of Newfoundland in Canada, Barb Hunt often utilises the Newfoundland craft process as her main media to create her bodies of work. All of her work strong relates to her culture as Hunt juxtaposes typically feminine issues with masculine materials. Creating a broad range of installation pieces. Much of Hunt’s pieces strongly relates to feminism and gender associations which have explicitly influenced society. “I want to feminise the whole world, which is why pink is used so much in her work - to try and make this colour a strong place to be...” (Questions For Crafters). Therefore, Hunt focuses on the re-construction of how feminism is portrayed through creating pieces which show feminine qualities whilst appearing to also show the strength of women. Barb Hunt’s most recent works go into depth on the construction of war and how it has also created gender associations. Hunt’s anti-personnel project of researching on war allowed Hunt to re-construct several materials in order to portray her context of femininity.

Hunt’s 1994 piece, titled Root Dresses was a series of one out of three dresses. The dress displays Hunt’s contrasted use of feminine issues, whilst using masculine materials. Utilising the organic line of the ‘masculine’ material, Hunt creates the body of a dress to show both the strength and quality of women. As appose to constructing the dress from individual sticks, Hunt has enabled the branches to create the dress, which embodies Hunt’s intentions of showing masculine attributes in women. Rather than focusing on colour (much like her other pieces), Hunt utilises the natural colour of steel to again highlight gender associations which have been created in society. Root Dresses identifies Hunt’s strong context of femininity and how the construction of femininity overtime has resulted in a explicit distinction of aspects associated between genders.

Hunt’s 2001-2004 piece titled Incarnate, again encounters gender associations which have been constructed in society. However, focusing on the concept of war as the masculine subject, as Hunt re-created the army uniform by adding in various pink threading throughout the garment. The re-created garment has allowed the association of a soldier’s uniform to completely changed, as through explicit use of pink, Hunt has enabled the piece to show female qualities through a typically male associated garment. Incarnate displays two meanings as Hunt focuses on the affects of war, as well as relating to her concerns on constructions of femininity.

Displaying Hunt’s works, Root Dresses and Incarnate will allow the viewer to perceive Hunt’s focus of construction of femininity through the use of a broad range of issues and materials.

Root Dress, 1994

(Plasma-arc cut steel)

Incarnate, 2001-2004

(Used Army Fatigues and Embroidery Thread)

Whilst Diana Al-Hadid and Barb Hunt use vastly different materials and contexts, overall their focus of construction enables both artists to synthesise in November at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Curating Al-Hadid and Hunt.