Artist Talk: Abdul Abdullah
12 Sep 2018
Jangan Sakiti Hatiku: Abdul Abdullah in conversation with Kamiliah Bahdar and Zulfadhli Hilmi
Date: 22 September 2018
Time: 3 PM
Venue: Gillman Barracks, 9 Lock Road #02-23, Singapore 108937
Yavuz Gallery will be holding an artist talk in conjunction with Abdul Abdullah’s solo exhibition Jangan Sakiti Hakitu – Don’t Break My Heart. The panel discussion will feature Abdul alongisde curators Kamiliah Bahdar and Zulfadhli Hilmi.
Jangan Sakiti Hatiku – Don’t Break My Heart is Abdul Abdullah’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Debuting his new series of paintings, these large-scale works exhibit Abdullah’s deft control of the brush and continues his examination of contemporary landscapes. After international acclaim for his recent investigations this new body of work debuts in Singapore. Depicting ominous bulbous explosions overlaid with figures rendered in cartoon familiarity these works consider humanity’s complicity in our shared future. Evoking empathy and encouraging action the exhibition is Abdullah’s most ambitious yet.
About the Artist
Abdul Abdullah (b. 1986, Australia) is an interdisciplinary artist that works across painting, photography, textile and installation. His previous projects engaged with various marginalised minority groups, examining in particular the experiences of young Muslims in multicultural Australia. Though political in context, his works do not attempt to address any specifics of religion or comment on particular individuals who practice it, but instead examines the complex feelings of displacement and alienation associated with histories of diaspora and migration. Notions of cultural hybridity, ceremony, ritual, and intimate aspects of the self and identity are revealed in his work through his darkly distinctive oeuvre that is confronting and deeply elucidating in regard to the human condition.
Abdul is collected by the National Gallery of Australia, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, amongst others. Recent curated exhibitions include: ENOUGH صﺹاﺍلﻝخﺥ KHALAS, UNSW Galleries, Australia (2018); Infinite conversations, National Gallery Australia (2018); DIASPORA: Exit, Exile, Exodus of Southeast Asia, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Thailand (2018); Dark Horizons, Pataka Art+Museum, New Zealand (2017); and Jogja Calling, 4A Centre of Contemporary Asian Art, Australia (2016). He participated in the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (2015), and is a four-time Archibald Prize finalist and three-time Sulman Prize finalist, the most prestigious art prizes in Australia, a rarity for an artist of his years.