DIANA AL-HADID: RECORD OF A MORTAL UNIVERSE

Record of a Mortal Universe is based upon the event of a hero’s collapse.  Plaster, fiberglass, and cast plastic envelop a complex wood and steel armature to form a grand staircase that leads to a decomposing Greek temple.  Classical architectural devices are deconstructed; the vaulted arch is upside down, Corinthian columns have melted away.  Sourcing religion, architecture, and physics, Al-Hadid’s pointed and varied references unfold within the work to meld the universal with the personal.  Cultural iconography gives way to clues about her biography; the works interlace place, history and self.  The sculptures result in a fictitious narrative—an imagined world—that is as haunting as it is enchanting