Aisha Al-Abdulla
About:
Aisha Al-Abdulla is a multidisciplinary artist who tells stories. Through her fictional characters that get in touch with her inner child and personal experience, she combines fantasy narratives, world-building, character design and material exploration. The influence of Japanese pop culture and animation, western cartoons and video games have shaped her interests serving as inspiration for her visual language. She has a bachelor's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Painting and Printmaking. She exhibited her work in Doha and Berlin including her public art installation at Liwan and at the Garage Gallery in the Fire Station, Doha. Aisha was part of the art residency program at the Fire Station Artist Residency in 2023-2024 (AIR 8).
Artist Statement:
Sketching is a core part of my art practice, drawing whatever that comes to mind. I make characters by referencing images I collected or by mindless doodling. The characters are not conceptually driven, they are process driven. The context is built around the development of the characters and my personal liking to it. Many of the figures I draw do not have an idea behind them. It is like muscle memory at this point, it is something I do without thinking about. It takes the pressure off from thinking too much about the concept allowing me to focus on the process. This was my thought process when I made my installation “figure abstraction”, focusing on the material exploration rather than the end result.
Aisha Al-Abdulla is a multidisciplinary artist who tells stories. Through her fictional characters that get in touch with her inner child and personal experience, she combines fantasy narratives, world-building, character design and material exploration. The influence of Japanese pop culture and animation, western cartoons and video games have shaped her interests serving as inspiration for her visual language. She has a bachelor's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Painting and Printmaking. She exhibited her work in Doha and Berlin including her public art installation at Liwan and at the Garage Gallery in the Fire Station, Doha. Aisha was part of the art residency program at the Fire Station Artist Residency in 2023-2024 (AIR 8).
Artist Statement:
Sketching is a core part of my art practice, drawing whatever that comes to mind. I make characters by referencing images I collected or by mindless doodling. The characters are not conceptually driven, they are process driven. The context is built around the development of the characters and my personal liking to it. Many of the figures I draw do not have an idea behind them. It is like muscle memory at this point, it is something I do without thinking about. It takes the pressure off from thinking too much about the concept allowing me to focus on the process. This was my thought process when I made my installation “figure abstraction”, focusing on the material exploration rather than the end result.