"That really local focus does prove what we have available to us here in WA and in Perth."
Abdul-Rahman Abdullah
One of the oldest existing, most widely recognised and enjoyed forms of art and culture is visual art. Encompassing a multitude of disciplines and spanning a wide-range of materials, forms, and spatial arrangements, we are fortunate to have a unique culture of active emerging, mid-career, and established visual artists creating work throughout the state of Western Australia.
A fitting example of a sought after mid-career Western Australian artist is sculptor and installation artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah whose solo exhibition Everything is True is showing at John Curtin Gallery as part of the 2021 Perth Festival Visual Arts program. Living and working in rural Western Australia, Abdullah provides unique, intersectional perspectives, focusing on shared understandings of individual identity and new mythologies within our Australian landscape.
The exhibition comprises the largest solo show for the artist to date and contains numerous artworks fabricated over the time since he finished studying fine art at Curtin in 2012. The profoundly detailed sculptural works are often figurative – evoking familiar animals and motifs – while exploring elements of cultural identity, family connection, and the natural world.
