Faisal Abdu’Allah
Faisal Abdu’Allah graduated from the Royal College of Art, London. His first solo show ‘Censored’ received wide acclaim and he was quoted as ‘one to watch’ by art critic Sarah Kent.
Abdu’Allah’s work primarily evolves from the interface of photography, the printed image and lens-based installation. He constantly repositions values and ideologies pertaining to representation. In his work, there is a sensibility that is grounded in both popular culture and media and Western art history.
A major retrospective of his work, ‘The Art of Dislocation’ was held in November 2010 at the Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, USA, curated by Stanford Professor Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz and Indie Choudhury of the Tate Britain.
In 2009/10 Abdu’Allah presented work at Tate Britain, the Whitechapel Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery.
Abdu’Allah often works collaboratively. This has included working with artist Christan Boltanski and with the architect David Adjaye on ‘The Garden of Eden’ (image above) which looked at the privileged gaze. ‘Gold Finger’ in 2007 was the result of a three year connection with the late Joey Pyle from the British Mafia.
Abdu’Allah has participated in Sharjah, Torino and Tallinn Biennales and has been the recipient of the Decibel Artist Award 2005 and the first prize at the Tallinn Print Triennial 2007. He is a senior lecturer in Fine art at the University of East London.
Image: Faisal Abdu’Allah, Double Pendulum, still, June 2011