Laylah Ali

Laylah Ali
Born Buffalo, New York
Nationality American
Education

1994 M.F.A., Washington University in St. Louis, MO 1993 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME 1992 Whitney Independent Study Program, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1991 B.A., Williams College, Williamstown, MA
Known for Painting
Notable work The Greenheads Series
Style Gouache
Awards

2008 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant 2007 United States Artists Fellowship 2002 William H. Johnson Prize 2001 Premio Regione Piemonte (Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Per L’Arte, Turin, Italy)

2000 ICA Artist Prize (Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts)

Laylah Ali (born 1968, Buffalo, New York[1]) is a contemporary visual artist known for paintings in which ambiguous race relations are depicted with a graphic clarity and cartoon strip format.[2]

Early life and education

In her youth, Ali originally intended to be a lawyer or a doctor.[3] She received her B.A. (English and Studio Art) from Williams College, Williamstown, MA and her M.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She lives and works in Williamstown, Massachusetts.[1] She is currently a professor at Williams College.[4]

Work

The subject of Ali's most well-known gouache paintings are the Greenheads – characters designed to minimize or eliminate categorical differences of gender, height, age, and in some ways race.[5] The works are small scale gouache paintings and drawings on paper. She is known to prepare for many months, planning out every detail so there are no room for mistakes. Ali says she will one brush for one color and will label the brushes so there is no cross contamination amongst brushes. Ali's work is based on life experiences. Although you may not be able to tell, she says all of her work holds meaning and that what's in her mind transcends from her hands on paper.[6]

About the performative nature of her work, Ali says, "The paintings can be like crude stages or sets, the figures like characters in a play. I think of them equally as characters and figures."[7]

Since 2015, Ali has been working on a series of paintings she calls Acephalous, featuring figures she describes as gender conscious, potentially sexual or sexualized, some of which have racial characteristics and some of which do not have heads. "They are on an endless, determined trek, a multi-part journey," she says. "It has elements of a forced migration."[7]

Collaborations

Laylah Ali has collaborated with dancer/choreographer Dean Moss at The Kitchen in 2005[8] with Figures on a Field and in 2014 with johnbrown

Collections

Ali’s works are included in the permanent collections of numerous public institutions, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, among many others.[9]

Exhibitions

Solo and Group Exhibitions

Laylah Ali has exhibited in both the Venice Biennial (2003) and the Whitney Biennial (2004)[6] She is represented by Paul Kasmin Gallery in Chelsea.

Other exhibitions are as follows:

References

  1. 1 2 Baker, Alex (2007) Laylah Ali: Typology. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. p. 47. ISBN 9780943836300
  2. ↑ Cotter, Holland (2000). "ART IN REVIEW; Laylah Ali" (June 30). The New York Times. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Laylah Ali on Greenheads, Violence in Art, and More | BU Today | Boston University". BU Today. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  4. ↑ "Laylah Ali: The Greenheads Series". http://museum.cornell.edu/. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University. Retrieved 17 March 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  5. ↑ Ali, Laylah. "Interview." Laylah Ali. By Rebecca Walker. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 2001.
  6. 1 2 "Laylah Ali". http://www.pbs.org. ART21, Inc. 2001–2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  7. 1 2 "Juxtapoz Magazine - Laylah Ali: Bodies in Notion". www.juxtapoz.com. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  8. ↑ Cornuelle, Kimberly (4 November 2010). "Laylah Ali on Greenheads, Violence in Art, and More". Boston University. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "Paul Kasmin Gallery - Laylah Ali". paulkasmingallery.com. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  10. ↑ Ali, Laylah; DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (2008-01-01). Laylah Ali: note drawings. [Lincoln, MA?]: Decordova Museum and Sculpture Park. ISBN 9780945506591.

External links

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