BIO

“The visual language is the language of a creator. In order to understand this language, the person facing it must first perceive himself.”
Abdulhamid Abdalla, 2020

In his paintings, Abdulhamid Abdalla transforms classical and abstract Western art forms into a new style that addresses current social, cultural and sexual taboos. Classical portraits merge with today’s multimedia imagery to convey raw emotion to the viewer. By detaching traditional narratives from their historical context, Abdalla reveals the conceptual foundations of cultural and personal identity formation, examining their influence on the present and future. The globalising world community is bringing more and more cultures together in real and virtual hybrid spaces. Abdalla provocatively asks how a common world culture in which peace is possible can be realised. He explores the growing influence of digitalisation on community and identity formation, examining the relentless pursuit of technological progress and how it leaves people caught between self-recrimination and the frenzy of advancement. He also considers the fine line between utopia and dystopia. Using symbolism reminiscent of technical maps and algorithms, Abdalla confronts Western art with elements of Eastern culture etched in his memory. Inspired by sources as diverse as Old Master portraits, ancient cultures, human movement patterns, media images of women, and robotic representations of the body, he creates works that merge poetry and harsh reality. Through his art, Abdalla translates his personal multicultural identity into his own artistic language.

The Armenian-Kurdish artist Abdulhamid Abdalla was born in a small village near Al Hasakah (Syria).  Already as a child he started painting by scratching on the clay house walls with hard ceramics or making sculptures from clay residues that were made for the bread ovens, the so-called tandurs. At the age of 16 he had his first exhibition in the Arab Cultural Center in Al-Hasakah. He worked on his family’s farm until he moved to Damascus at the age of 18 to study fine arts at the university. Already during his studies, he became one of the most famous artists in Syria. In 2001, he took 3rd place in the competition for young Syrian artists. Numerous national and international exhibitions followed. At the end of 2003, Abdalla decided to leave Syria in order to exchange the weapons he should have carried in military service for brushes and color palette. Abdalla was able to integrate himself very quickly into the new Western cultural environmant and tradition because he has been intensively dealing with other cultures and identities since his youth. Today Abdalla lives and works in Hamburg, Germany.