Diana Al-Hadid

The Falcon and The Bandit

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Diana Al-Hadid, The Falcon and The Bandit, 2017, Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, plaster, copper leaf, gold leaf, painter’s tape and pigment, 274.3 x 213.4 x 14 cm, Art Jameel Collection. Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen. Photo courtesy of Object Studies.

Artwork Details

Artist

Diana Al-Hadid

Title

The Falcon and The Bandit

Date

2017

Medium

Polymer gypsum, fiberglass, steel, plaster, copper leaf, gold leaf, painter’s tape and pigment

Dimensions

273.4 x 213.4 x 14 cm

Credit Line

Art Jameel Collection

Work Description

Diana Al-Hadid is known for a practice that spans media and scale and examines the historical frameworks and perspectives that shape our visual, material, and cognitive assumptions. Al-Hadid’s sculptures, panels and works on paper are built up with layers of materials and histories. Her rich, formal allusions cross cultures and disciplines, drawing inspiration not only from the history of distant civilisations, but also from histories of the materials themselves. Al-Hadid developed a unique process for her panels that evolved from studies for her large-scale sculptures, but which owe a great debt to her flat work. 

Falcon and the Bandit is part of a body of work which falls somewhere between her fully three-dimensional sculptures and her drawings on Mylar, and like all her work, borrows from a variety of sources ranging from Old Master paintings to the innovative works of the Islamic Golden Age. The panels are made additively, and originate from the artist’s quick gestural brushwork, methodically reinforced, ensuring that the image dictates the structure. Al-Hadid describes her signature process as “somewhere between fresco and tapestry”. They are powerful representations of subjects turned into a kind of scaffold or superstructure, using materials commonly found on building sites. These works have been made as hanging objects, architectural interventions, and most recently as outdoor installations. 

Artist Biography

Diana Al-Hadid (b.1981, Aleppo, Syria) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York

Diana Al-Hadid examines the historical frameworks and perspectives that continue to shape discourse on culture and materials today, using her art as a bridge between her experiences living in the US and her childhood in Syria.. With a practice spanning sculpture, wall reliefs and works on paper, the artist weaves together enigmatic narratives that draw inspiration from both ancient and modern civilisations. Al-Hadid’s work gives form to ghostly images abstractly rendered in materials including steel, polymer gypsum, fiberglass, wood, foam, plaster, aluminium foil, and pigment. She has held major solo exhibitions globally in institutions such as MSU Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University (2025), Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington (2022), San José Museum of Art (2017) and NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, UAE (2016); and group exhibitions at RISD Museum (2024-25), MO.CO Panacé, Montpellier (2024) in the NGV Triennial, Melbourne (2023-24) and the Lahore Biennale 02 (2020). 

www.dianaalhadid.com

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