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Laylah Ali

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Not to be confused with Laila Ali.
Laylah Ali
Born1968 (age 55–56)
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
EducationWilliams College (BA)
Washington University in St. Louis (MFA)
Known forPainting
Notable workThe Greenheads Series
StyleGouache
Awards2008 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)[1] is an American contemporary visual artist. She is known for paintings in which ambiguous race relations are depicted with a graphic clarity and cartoon strip format.[2] She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts,[1] and is a professor at Williams College.[3]

Early life and education

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In her youth, Ali originally intended to be a lawyer or a doctor.[4]

Ali received her B.A. degree (English and studio art) from Williams College, Williamstown, MA in 1991.[5] She participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City in 1992, and completed a residency at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME in 1993. Ali received her M.F.A. degree in 1994 from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

Work

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In Ali's earlier work, she would draw or paint something violent. She focused more on the action than the violence itself. In her current work, there is not a lot of focus on the act; she is more attentive to what happens before and after.[6] Laylah's work had a unique feature of including a level of emotion. She uses bright colors and cartoons to portray current events and socio-political ideas. She uses this unique approach of not using a specific event, so the audience can think through the art and have their own perception.[7]

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 is no room for mistakes. Ali's work is based on life experiences. Although one 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.[8] 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."[9]

Ali's work included an artistic lens of caricature. According to Charlotte Seaman, "Ali’s work is not grounded in the academic tradition, however it is informed by the rich history of caricature, especially as humorous or mocking social commentary". Ali used a unique idea of caricature, Seaman states "Ali uses the visual language of cartoons, comics, and to some extent caricatures. Notably, though, her work is opposed to racial caricature in that it does not exaggerate features of an individual – rather the opposite: it turns individuals into signs or ciphers of generalized (though still racialized) human experience"[10]

The Greenheads Series

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The subject of Ali's most well-known gouache paintings are Greenheads– characters designed to minimize, eliminate and interrogate categorical differences of gender, height, age, and in some ways race.[11][12] Ali created more than 80 of these paintings between 1996 and 2005. Ali drew on imagery and topics from newspapers, such as images of protest signs or world leaders hugging, but tweaked the stories in order to create something distant and new. Ali designed the characters and images to be specific and yet vague. They have meaning from Ali herself but the viewer brings their own references to interpret the image as well. Ali designed the characters to look human-like but not quite human so that they would be removed from our world and social context. They have a socio-political meaning yet they exist outside of our world.[13]

The Acephalous Series

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Since 2015, Ali has been working on paintings she calls The Acephalous Series, featuring figures described 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."[9]

Collaborations

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In 2002, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, commissioned Ali to create a wordless graphic novelette.[14] The artist collaborated with dancer and choreographer Dean Moss at The Kitchen in 2005 and at MASS MoCA in 2006 with figures on a field.[15] They later premiered a performance at Some sweet day at MoMA, New York in 2012. John Brown Song! was an online project launched by the Dia Art Foundation in 2013.[16] Ali's outdoor billboard project for Walker without Walls at the Walker Art Center was documented on season 3 of the PBS series Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century.[17]

Collections

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Ali's works are included in the permanent collection of numerous public institutions, including the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; RISD Museum, Providence, RI; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; and the Whitney Museum in New York City.[18]

Exhibitions

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Selected solo and group exhibitions

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Laylah Ali has exhibited in both the Venice Biennale (2003) and the Whitney Biennial (2004).[8] Other exhibitions are as follows:

Awards

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Laylah Ali has been awarded a number of grants, residencies and awards, including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2008,[23] the Joan Mitchell Foundation Residency in 2018,[24] the United States Artists Fellowship,[25] as well as being honored as an artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College, Yaddo, Headlands Center for the Arts, and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

References

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  1. ^ a b 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". The New York Times. No. June 30. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  3. ^ "Laylah Ali: The Greenheads Series". museum.cornell.edu. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  4. ^ "Laylah Ali on Greenheads, Violence in Art, and More". BU Today. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  5. ^ "Paul Kasmin Gallery - Laylah Ali". paulkasmingallery.com. Archived from the original on 2018-03-04. Retrieved 2018-03-03.
  6. ^ Sollins, Susan (2005). Art 21: art in the 21st century 3. Purchase College. pp. 28. ISBN 081095916X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. ^ "Laylah Ali". Art21. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  8. ^ a b "Laylah Ali". Art21.org. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Juxtapoz Magazine - Laylah Ali: Bodies in Notion". www.juxtapoz.com. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  10. ^ cseaman. "Laylah Ali: Drawing Power, Play, and Violence | Drawing Connections". Retrieved 2023-12-12.
  11. ^ Ali, Laylah. "Interview." Laylah Ali. By Rebecca Walker. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 2001.
  12. ^ Art21 (2009-09-18). Laylah Ali: Meaning | Art21 "Extended Play". Retrieved 2024-06-09 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Ali, Laylah; Rothschild, Deborah; Museum of Art. (2012). Laylah Ali, the Greenheads series: [accompanies the exhibition "Laylah Ali: the Greenheads series" presented at Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts, August 18 - November 25, 2012; Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, March 2 - June 30, 2013; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, September 7 - December 22, 2013. S.l.: s.n. ISBN 9780913697306. OCLC 843494121.
  14. ^ "The Believer - Interview with Laylah Ali". The Believer. 2005-12-01. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  15. ^ Cornuelle, Kimberly (4 November 2010). "Laylah Ali on Greenheads, Violence in Art, and More". Boston University. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  16. ^ "What Could the Internet Be? Dia's Online Projects". Rhizome. 2013-08-13. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  17. ^ "Laylah Ali in". Art21. Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  18. ^ "Paul Kasmin Gallery - Laylah Ali". paulkasmingallery.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  19. ^ "Laylah Ali: Not Self Portraits". KSMoCA — King School Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  20. ^ "Black Pulp!". Print Center New York. 2016-12-19. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  21. ^ Ali, Laylah; DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (2008-01-01). Laylah Ali: note drawings. [Lincoln, MA?]: Decordova Museum and Sculpture Park. ISBN 9780945506591. OCLC 286493089.
  22. ^ "Laylah Ali Paintings on Paper | MASS MoCA". 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  23. ^ Foundation, Joan Mitchell. "Joan Mitchell Foundation » Artist Programs » Artist Grants". joanmitchellfoundation.org. Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  24. ^ "Joan Mitchell Foundation Names Artists for Its 2018 Residency Program". www.artforum.com. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 2018-02-13.
  25. ^ "United States Artists Taps Baltimore-based Deana Haggag as President and CEO | Culture Type". www.culturetype.com. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 2018-02-13.

Bibliography

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Selected artist books, exhibition catalogs, print editions and press:

  • Is Anything the Matter? Drawings by Laylah Ali. Essays by Karen Kurczynski and Arisa White; interview with Romi Crawford, Marion Art Gallery, SUNY Fredonia, NY, 2024. ISBN 9798218308711
  • Four letterpress prints (edition of 250) from “Self-Portraits with Nat Turner’s Vision” 1994 series, printed and published by Pellinore Press, Baltimore, MD, in collaboration with Goucher College, 2019.
  • Laylah Ali: The Acephalous Series. Essays by Alex Ebstein, Tisa Bryant, Kaitlyn Greenidge; interview with Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Silber Gallery, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD, 2019. ISBN 9781792300394
  • Comfort with Rage. Silkscreen print (edition of 100) commissioned by Printed Matter for NY Art Book Fair, printed and published by Kayrock Screenprinting, Brooklyn, NY, 2018.
  • Sixteen Drawings. Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY, 2017.
  • Laylah Ali: The Greenheads Series. Essays by Julia Bryan-Wilson and Kevin Young; interview with Deborah Rothschild, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA, 2012. ISBN 9780913697306
  • Laylah Ali: Note Drawings. Essay by Dina Deitsch; interview with Kevin Young, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA, 2008. ISBN 9780945506591
  • Laylah Ali: Typology. Essay by Alex Baker; interview with Kara Walker, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 2007. ISBN 9780943836300
  • Notes with Little Illustration. Institute of International Visual Arts, London, book design by the artist and Nicole Parente, 2007.
  • The Believer: The Visual Issue. Interview with Tisa Bryant, p. 79, Dec. 2005 - Jan. 2006[1]
  • Types. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO, 2005 ISBN 0971219567
  • Untitled. Aquatint etching print (edition of 50) published by Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH, 2002.[2] In the collection of the RISD Museum.
  • Untitled. Graphic novelette published on the occasion of Projects 75 for The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, digital production by Nicole Parente, 2002.[3]
  • Laylah Ali: ICA Artist Prize 2000. Essays by Jessica Morgan and Suzanne Wise; interview with Rebecca Walker, ICA Boston, MA, 2001. ISBN 0910663610
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  1. ^ admin_bm (2006-01-01). "An Interview with Laylah Ali". Believer Magazine. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  2. ^ "Laylah Ali • Wingate Studio". Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  3. ^ Helmick-Brunet, Helmick-Brunet (May 21, 2002). "Projects 75: Laylah Ali". MoMA.
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