Abdul-Rahman Abdullah (born 1977) is an Australian artist based in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, an elder brother of artist

Abdul Abdullah Abdul Abdullah (born 1986) is a Sydney-based Australian multidisciplinary artist, the younger brother of Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, also an artist. Abdul Abdullah has been a finalist several times in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes. He cre ...

. He works mainly in

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and installations.

Early life and education

Abdul-Rahman Abdullah was born in 1977 at

Port Kembla, New South Wales Port Kembla is a suburb of Wollongong 8 km south of the CBD and part of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The suburb comprises a seaport, industrial complex (one of the largest in Australia), a small harbour foreshore nature reserve ...

. He is an elder brother of

(born 1986) Their mother is

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

, while their father is

Anglo-Australian English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians, are Australians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry (wheth ...

, and the family is

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. Abdullah is a 7th-generation Australian on his father's side, whose ancestors arrived on the '' Indefatigable'' (a convict ship) in 1815. Both of his grandfathers fought in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After school he worked at a variety of jobs, as well as enrolling in and dropping out of various college and university courses, before he realised that art could be a profession. He enjoyed

drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...

, and became an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

and commercial

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, developing skills and a

work ethic Work ethic is a belief that work and diligence have a moral benefit and an inherent ability, virtue or value to strengthen character and individual abilities. It is a set of values centered on importance of work and manifested by determination o ...

as an independent contractor. In 2010 Abdullah enrolled for an art degree at the

Victorian College of Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, but switched institutions before graduating from

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

in Perth in 2012, when he was 34 years old.

Career

Abdullah became a full-time artist a year after completing his degree, when he secured commission to create a

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

work. In 2014 he started carving wood for the first time, having been using clay, moulds,

silicone A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking ...

and

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...

s following his experience of sculpting commercially. In 2018, Abdullah co-curated (with Nur Shkembi), an exhibition called ''Waqt al-tagheer: Time of change'' at

ACE Open ACE Open is a contemporary visual art organisation based in Adelaide, South Australia, established in 2017 after the Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia and the Australian Experimental Art Foundation (AEAF) were merged, creating a new org ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

as part of the

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

, showcasing the work of 11 Muslim artists who explore their identity in their work. The work included

Hoda Afshar Hoda Afshar (born 1983) is an Iranian documentary photographer who is based in Melbourne. She is known for her 2018 prize-winning portrait of Kurdish-Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani, who suffered a long imprisonment in the Manus Island detentio ...

's photographic series, ''Westoxicated''; several works by his brother Abdul Abdullah; Abdullah's sculptural installation ''500 Books''; and works by others including

Khadim Ali Khadim Ali (Urdu: خادم علی, born 1978) is an Australian painter of Afghan people, Afghan descent, a member of the Hazaras ethnic group. Early life and education Khadim Ali was born in 1978 in the Pakistani city of Quetta to a family of ...

, Shireen Taweel,

Eugenia Flynn ''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...

, Zeina Iaali and Khaled Sabsabi.

Art practice and themes

Abdullah is acutely aware of his identity as a Muslim and being seen as foreigner in Australia because of his religion. He said in 2020: He draws inspiration from his family, immediate and extended, as well as ancestors in Malaysia and Indonesia, and also explores the idea of family and its different definitions. Animals feature strongly in his work, which he says is "fundamental to my visual language". He carves wooden animals in a style which he calls "aestheticised realism" which is "realistic in terms of proportion and scale, but simplified and stylised". Others have referred to it as magic realism; he explores traditional methods in a contemporary way. He uses animals as symbols of human stories and relationships, and also explores the idea of

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

in his work. On the occasion of the 2022 exhibition ''Land Abounds'', featuring work of both Abdullah brothers and video works by

Tracey Moffatt Tracey Moffatt (born 12 November 1960) is an Indigenous Australian artist who primarily uses photography and video. In 2017 she represented Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale with her solo exhibition, "My Horizon". Her works are held in th ...

, Abdul-Rahman said:

Other roles

*2017–2021: Board member of

Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is a contemporary visual and performance arts venue located in a heritage-listed building in Perth, Western Australia. History 1896–1959: Schools The building at 53 James Street, Northbridge, which ...

*2018:

City of Perth A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, East End revitalisation working group

Recognition

In 2018 both brothers were shortlisted to represent Australia in the 58th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 2019. Abdullah was selected to exhibit in the 2016

Adelaide Biennial The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

, and has again been selected for 2022, as one of "25 leading Australian contemporary artists".

Residencies

* 2013: Underbelly Arts Lab, Cockatoo Island, Sydney * 2014:

Campbelltown Arts Centre Campbelltown Arts Centre (C-A-C or CAC) is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre located in Campbelltown, New South Wales, south west of Sydney, Australia. It is a cultural facility of Campbelltown City Council, assisted by other governm ...

, Sydney * 2015: Galeri Petronas,

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

, Malaysia * 2016: 4A Beijing Residency,

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China

Selected awards and other honours

Abdullah has been shortlisted for the

Wynne Prize The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize ...

twice (), the

Blake Prize The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and since 2016 has been a ...

, and several other prizes; was highly commended for the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize; and has won a number of prizes for sculpture. In 2020, Abdullah won the

Australian Muslim Artists Art Prize The Islamic Museum of Australia (IMA) is a community museum in Thornbury, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It began as a not-for-profit foundation founded in May 2010 with the purpose of establishing the first Islamic museum in Australia. It ...

, an annual prize hosted by

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

, for his work entitled ''Transplants (Euphorbia, Monstera, Sansevieria)'', a tribute to his mother's love for her family and her expertise in

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

. In 2021, he won the Minnawarra Art Prize, a Western Australian prize.

Exhibitions

Abdullah's first

solo exhibition A solo show or solo exhibition is an exhibition of the work of only one artist. The artwork may be paintings, drawings, etchings, collage, sculpture, or photography. The creator of any artistic technique may be the subject of a solo show. Other s ...

was in Perth in 2012, at an artist run initiative called Kurb, when he was a third-year student at Curtin, and sold his first artwork there. His work has been exhibited at the

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art The Australian Centre For Contemporary Art (ACCA) is a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne, Australia. The gallery is located on Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, in the inner suburb of Southbank. Designed by Wood Marsh Architects ...

in Melbourne. In 2014, ''The Obstacle'', a life-size buffalo carved from

jelutong Jelutong is a suburb of George Town in Penang, Malaysia. Located south of the Pinang River, Jelutong has been inhabited since as early as the late 18th century, when traders from Aceh and India settled around the area. It was once notorious ...

wood, sunken into a

Persian rug A Persian carpet ( fa, فرش ایرانی, translit=farš-e irâni ) or Persian rug ( fa, قالی ایرانی, translit=qâli-ye irâni ),Savory, R., ''Carpets'',(Encyclopaedia Iranica); accessed January 30, 2007. also known as Iranian ...

, featured at the

Melbourne Art Fair The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, colloquially referred to as "Jeff's Shed," is a group of three adjacent buildings next to the Yarra River in South Wharf, an inner-city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The venues are ow ...

. In April 2015, the

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

held the inaugural "WA Focus" exhibition featuring the work of both Abdul and Abdul-Rahman. Also in April 2015, Abdullah's work was featured in the ''Here&Now15'' exhibition of experimental sculpture at

Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery The Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery is an on-campus art gallery at the University of Western Australia in Crawley. History The gallery was established in July 1990. Description It is supported by a "friends of" organisation. It contains collect ...

at the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. In 2015, work from both brothers featured at the mid-year salon exhibition at the

(PICA). In 2019, his large-scale installation entitled ''Pretty Beach'', featuring painted wooden

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea rays, which are cartilaginous fish related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae ( ...

s and crystal rain, was included in The National, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. This was inspired by the death by suicide in 2009 of his Grandpa Cliffy, reflecting the shore where he lived. In 2020 he was working on a major group exhibition that had been postponed owing to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

. Called ''I am a heart beating in the world: Diaspora Pavilion 2'', it was planned to become part of an international project for the

. Presented by the

4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, formerly known as Gallery 4A, 4A Galleries, Asia-Australia Arts Centre and also known simply as 4A, is an Australian independent not-for-profit organisation based in the Haymarket area of Sydney, New South W ...

and the International Curators Forum in partnership with

at Campbelltown, the exhibition was due to run from 22 May to 17 October 2021, but it had to go online after another wave of COVID-19 in New South Wales. Fellow contributors to the exhibition include

Lindy Lee Lindy Lee (born 1954) is an Australian painter and sculptor of Chinese heritage, whose work blends the cultures of Australia and her ancestral China and explores her Buddhist faith. She has exhibited widely, and is particularly known for her lar ...

and Leyla Stevens. In February 2021 Abdullah held his first solo exhibition in an institutional gallery, at the John Curtin Gallery in Perth. It was also his largest exhibition so far. Entitled ''Everything is true'', the exhibition comprised 24 sculptures. From 28 May until 24 July 2022, the exhibition ''Land Abounds'', featuring the work of both Abdullah brothers and video work by

, runs at the NSW Southern Highlands gallery of Ngununggula (meaning "belonging" in the local

Gundungurra language Ngunnawal/Ngunawal is an Australian Aboriginal language, the traditional language of the Ngunnawal. Ngunnawal is very closely related to the Gandangara language and the two were most likely highly mutually intelligible. As such they can be c ...

Solo exhibitions

, Abdullah has had the following solo exhibitions: * 2012: ''Inside the little kingdom'', Fringe World Festival 2012, Kurb Gallery. Perth * 2013: ''Maghrib'', Venn Gallery, Perth * 2015: ''In the name'', Alaska Projects,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

* 2017: ''Among Monsters'', This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne * 2018: ''The Dogs'', Moore Contemporary, Perth * 2021: ''Everything is true'',

Perth Festival Perth Festival, named Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) between 2000 and 2017, and sometimes referred to as the Festival of Perth, is Australia's longest-running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia. The program features ...

2021, John Curtin Gallery, Perth

Collections

Abdullah's work is held in several major and regional galleries, including: *

Artbank Artbank is an art rental program established in 1980 by the Australian Government. It supports contemporary Australian artists and encourages a wider appreciation of their work by buying artworks which it then rents to public and private sector c ...

(national collection) *

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its n ...

Islamic Museum of Australia The Islamic Museum of Australia (IMA) is a community museum in Thornbury, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It began as a not-for-profit foundation founded in May 2010 with the purpose of establishing the first Islamic museum in Australia. I ...

* City of Campbelltown *

City of Broken Hill The City of Broken Hill is a local government area in the Far West region of New South Wales, Australia. The area contains an isolated mining city, Broken Hill, located in the outback of New South Wales and is surrounded by the Unincorporated F ...

City of Bendigo The City of Bendigo was a local government area covering the central area and inner western suburbs of the regional city of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1855 to 1994. History The City of Bendi ...

City of Armadale The City of Armadale is a local government area in the southeastern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about southeast of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of , much of which is state forest risi ...

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

Personal life

Abdullah lives with his wife, artist Anna Louise Richardson, their two daughters and newborn son on a large cattle farm in

Mundijong, Western Australia Mundijong is an outer suburb of the Western Australian capital city of Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a popul ...

. The couple alternate parenting and working in the studio. His younger brother is artist

References

External links

* * (54:23) * Features both brothers in conversation with Daniel Browning. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullah, Abdul-Rahman 1977 births Living people Artists from Western Australia 21st-century Australian sculptors 21st-century Australian male artists