ART Austria Austria Bound

“I wanted to be an artist since I was around union established in 1897 by an avant-garde With the support of 11 years old,” says Diana Al-Hadid. “I group of Austrian painters, sculptors, and ’s Secession, artist didn’t really know what that meant—but I architects including , Koloman was very serious about it.” In the airy East Moser, and Josef Hoffmann. Südbeck explains Diana Al-Hadid enters Williamsburg studio where she works, the that the chapel-like building, which features fearless territory. 33-year-old Al-Hadid crafts large-scale sculp- Klimt’s “Beethoven Frieze” (1902), “has a long tures out of wood, steel, fiberglass, and plas- tradition of site-specific interventions.” ter—media that make up “the core DNA of Al-Hadid’s show comprises mostly new the work,” she says. She has been working works, anchored by two sculptures, one of with these materials since graduate school, as which reaches all the way to the ceiling. “I BY MARINA CASHDAN well as “high and low” items including alumi- imagine the light will become an important PORTRAIT BY ANDREW MUSSON num foil, cardboard, concrete, and gold leaf. protagonist,” says Südbeck, who points to the Together, they form beautifully layered, tactile textures and shapes in Al-Hadid’s work that structures that feel one part archaeological dig, will be intensified by the natural light, which another part mythological fantasy. will change over the course of the day and the The artist’s panels achieve a similar dis- show’s run. The main sculpture positioned sonance, giving the appearance that color is in the center of the space will be surrounded suspended in midair. It’s this ethereal quality by two of the artist’s large-scale panels, and that has made Al-Hadid one of today’s most the show will be completed with her bronze sought-after emerging artists, and among the sculpture “Blind Bust II” (2012). Taking inspi- youngest to be represented by New York art ration from Italian sculptor Medardo Rosso dealer Marianne Boesky. “When I was intro- (1858–1928) and writer Wilhelm Jensen’s fic- duced to her work, [I was] instantly amazed at tional character Gradiva, Al-Hadid will real- the sculptural complexity and visual impact,” ize her vision with the support of an ambitious says Dr. Annette Südbeck, who curated curatorial team. “They’re fearless,” she says Al-Hadid’s exhibition at Vienna’s Secession of working with them. “They’re really about (on view from Sept. 11 to Nov. 2). supporting an artist’s vision and figuring out Al-Hadid will make her mark on the home how to get it done.” Diana Al-Hadid at her studio in Brooklyn. of the storied , an artists’

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