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Floating Narratives: An Interview with Ali Eyal


Artist list for 14th Mercosur Biennial announced


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“…retrieving an Obscured Present/Presence"


BELLYMAN, Los Angeles
Curated by John Bogaard


‘...retrieving an Obscured Present/Presence’ by Ali Eyal. Presenting deeply autobiographical work through augmented versions of self, Eyal carefully challenges the presentation of past and present realities, nuanced relationships, and future dreams.

Eyal’s work balances between the fantastical and the mundane. He utilizes illustrative iconography and intentional brush strokes to meticulously craft and share his personal narrative of growing up in a world troubled with global, regional, and personal conflict.

As the viewer wanders through Eyal’s imaginative and critical mind, they are confronted with intimate stories that are intentionally obscured to ask the question, “Do I understand this story?” The disorienting, yet comforting, landscapes forces the viewer to critically piece together fiction with nonfiction; reality with fantasy. By doing so, Eyal effectively pushes them to question their own personal histories and biases prior to understanding his. The navigation allows the viewer to discover that this fiction is not fiction but rather nonfiction after all.

Without realizing, one is left questioning all presentations of realities, news, and histories.











Photo by Kort Havens
Artworks

Look what I remember, a new garden from old wounds and Just a group school photo, but.. Tonight’s Programmem is Painting Size 80x60cm.Paper, pen, map in a pocket and my mom surprised me to show me a 2000 calendar, but what did I show my mom? The Blue Ink Pocket? and An Indefinite appearance or two walls and 6x9 doesn’t fit everything and Don't let the beautiful colors fool you, who would draw Goofy inside the rooms of grownups? And Where do the walls of the museum go when they are forgotten? Where does a thought go when it's forgotten? Autumn Solo Show. Berlin's drawing's pad. No Part Of This Book May Be Reproduced, In Any Way, By Photocopying, Recording, Or Otherwise, Except With The Prior Written Consent Of The Publisher, and  


Solo Shows
From the creases of my eyelid, In the head's sunrise and In the head's dusk there’s retrieving an Obscured Present/Presence
Text-Reviews    Publication


Ali Eyal (b.1994) is an artist working with painting, drawing, and video to explore the relationships between personal history, transitory memories, politics, and identity. Eyal is currently featured in Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023). Eyal's solo exhibitions include In the Head's Sunrise, Brief Histories, New York (2023); In the Head's Dusk, SAW Gallery, Ottawa (2023). Recent group exhibitions include, Is It Morning for You Yet?, the 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (2023); Surviving the Long Wars: Reckon and Reimagine, Chicago Cultural Center (2023); Documenta 15, Kassel (2022); Theater of Operations: The Gulf Wars 1991-2011, MoMA PS1, New York (2020); How to Reappear: Through the quivering leaves of independent publishing, Beirut Art Center, Lebanon (2019). Eyal’s video work is included in the 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil: Memory is an Edition Station, São Paulo (forthcoming October 2023); Rencontres Internationales, Paris; VITRINE x Kino Screenings, London; Sharjah Film Platform, Sharjah Art Foundation; and Cairo Video Festival, Medrar, Cairo. His works are in the collection of Kadist, Paris; Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah. Eyal earned an undergraduate degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad (2015), he currently lives and works in Los Angeles.






PORTFOLIO PDF




Born in 1994 in Baghdad, Iraq. Lives and works in Los Angeles, USA

Education
  • 2016 - 2017  | HWP/Home Workspace, Independent Study Program, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon.
  • 2011 - 2015   | Diploma, Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad.

Solo Exhibitions 

2024
  • Retrieving an Obscured Present/Presence, Bellyman, LA, US.
  • From the Creases of my Eyelid, The Quebec City BiennIal, Quebec, CA
2022
Selected Group Exhibitions

2024
  • Undoing Images I, Akademie der künste, Colonge, DE
  • A new garden from old wounds, ChertLüdde, Berlin, DE.
  • Display, Ehrlich Steinberg, LA, US.
  • Babel, Sara’s Dukunsthalle, NYC.
  • Hope Dies Last, Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto, CA. 
  • The David Hammons, Frieze show, curated by Suzy Halajian, LA, US. 
  • Crystal Clear, Bayt AlMamzar, Dubai, UAE.

2023
  • 4.5 Billion Years, Brief Histories, NYC, US.
  • Surviving the Long Wars, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, US.
  • Archival Assebly #2 at the Betonhalle, silent green, Berlin، curated by Ala Youins and Maha Maamoun. How to know what's really happening. Berlin, DE.
  • 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil | "Memory is an Editing Station"
  • 15th Sharjah Biennale, curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, U.A.E.
2022 
  •  The 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, US.
  • Documenta 15 - Sada [regroup], Kassel, DE. ​
  • Crossings: Itineraries of Encounter, Blackwood Gallery. Toronto, CA.
  • How to maneuver: Shape-shifting texts and other publishing tactics, isdaT — Institute of arts and design of Toulouse. Curated by Ala Youins and Maha Maamoun | Toulouse, FR
2021
  • This Is Not Lebanon, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm. Curated by Matthias Lilienthal, Rabih Mroué, Christine Thomé (Ashkal Alwan), Anna Wagner (Künstlerhaus Mousonturm), Jaan Bossier, Uwe Dierksen, Christian Hommel (Ensemble Modern). Kuratorische Mitarbeit: Friederike Kötter | Frankfurt, DE.
  • Hamds, The Akademie der Künste. Curated by MADHUSREE DUTTA, ALA YOUNIS  | Cologne, DE .      

2020
  • ​Online screening. Aashra, Ashkal Alwan. Curated by Ashkal Alwan | Beirut, LB
  • Online exhibition. Triennale Tres Pesos, Mexico, MX City.
  • Online exhibtion. Viral Self-Portraits, Museum of Contemporary Art Metelkova | +MSUM, Slovenia, LJU
  • How to reappear: Through the quivering leaves of independent publishing, MMAG Foundation, Amman, JO
2019
  • How to maneuver: Shape-shifting texts and other publishing tactics, Warehouse 421, Abut Dhabi, UE, curated by Kayfa ta, Ala Youins and Maha Maamoun.
  • Screening, Kino, Bermondsey as part of VITRINE x Kino Screenings. London, UK ​
  • Screening, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin video library at Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Berlin, DU
  • ​Screening, theme Less, time less, discipline less, form less. The James Black Gallery, Mexico, MX City.
  • Collective exhibition, Beirut Art Center. touché! (gestures, movement, action), Beirut, LB
  • Screening, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin video library
  • Screening, I am BP, King of Exploitation, King of Injustice, P21 Gallery, London, UK
  • Screening, Sharjah Film Platform, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UE

2018  
  • Screening, Immaterial Collection Forum IV: States of Being, Beirut Art Center, Beirut, LB
2017 
  • ​Audio piece, Collective Task, Baghdad, Baghdad, IQ
  • Open Studio, HWP 2016-17, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, LB

2015  
  • TARKIB Installation Exhibition, Baghdad, IQ
  • Group Show, 1010Hall The ARt House, Nicosia, CY
  • Build Peace conference, Nicosia, CY
  • 6th FIVAC, International Video Art Festival, Camaguey, CU.

2013 
  • Screening, Cairo Video Festival, Medrar, Cairo, EG
  • Al-Mutanabbi Street exhibition, Baghdad, IQ
  • ​Hampshire College, Amherst, MA. US.                        
  • Screening, Iraqi Independent Film Center, Baghdad, IQ
​
2011
  • Nakhla Gallery, Baghdad, IQ

Collections

2022

  • Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, FR 













Ali Eyal 2024 ​© All Rights Reserved​



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