Laylah Ali

**Laylah Ali **(born 1968) be an American contemporary visual artist. She be known for paintings insyd wich ambiguous race relations dey depict plus a graphic clarity den cartoon strip format. She dey live insyd Williamstown, Massachusetts, wey she be a professor at Williams College.  
## Early life den education
Insyd ein youth, Ali originally dey intend make she be a lawyer anaa a doctor. 

Ali receive ein B.A. degree (English den studio art) from Williams College, Williamstown, MA insyd 1991. She dey participate insyd de Whitney Independent Study Program at de Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City insyd 1992, wey she plete a residency at de Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME insyd 1993. Ali receive ein M.F.A. degree insyd 1994 from de Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. 
## Work
Insyd Ali ein earlier work, she go draw anaa paint samthing violent. She focus more for de action dan de violence einself. Insyd ein current work, der be no a lot of focus for de act top; she be more attentive to wat dey happen before den after. Laylah ein work get a unique feature of wey dey include a level of emotion. She dey use bright colors den cartoons make she portray current events den socio-political ideas. She dey use dis unique approach of make she no dey use a specific event, so de audience fi think thru de art den get dema own perception.

De works be small scale gouache paintings den drawings for paper top. She be known she dey prepare for chaw months, dey plan out every detail so der be no room for mistakes. Ali ein work dey base for life experiences top. Although one no fi be able make e tell, she dey talk say all of ein work dey hold meaning wey dat be wat dey insyd ein mind dey transcend from ein hands for paper top. About de performative nature of ein work, Ali say, "The paintings can be like crude stages or sets, the figures like characters in a play. I think of them equally as characters and figures."

Ali ein work include an artistic lens of caricature. According to Charlotte Seaman, "Ali ein work be not ground insyd de academic tradition, however, e be inform by de rich history of caricature, especially as humorous anaa mocking social commentary". Ali use a unique idea of caricature, Seaman dey state "Ali uses de visual language of cartoons, comics, den to some extent caricatures. Notably, though, ein work be oppose to racial caricature insyd dat e no dey exaggerate features of an individual – rather de opposite: e dey turn individuals into signs  anaa ciphers of generalized (though still dey racialize) human experience"
### De Greenheads Series
De subject of Ali ein most well-known gouache paintings be *Greenheads–* characters dem design make she minimize, eliminate den interrogate categorical differences of gender, height, age, den insyd sam ways race. Ali create more dan 80 of dese paintings between 1996 den 2005. Ali draw for imagery den topics top from newspapers, such as images of protest signs anaa world leaders wey dey hug, buh dem tweak de stories in order make dem create sam thing distant den new. Ali design de characters den images to be specific den yet vague. Dem get meaning from Ali einself buh de viewer dey bring dema own references make e interpret de image as well. Ali design de characters make e look human-like buh no be quite human so dat dem go be removed from wona world den social context. Dem get a socio-political wey dey mean yet dem exist outsyd of wona world.
### De Acephalous Series
Since 2015, na Ali dey work for paintings she dey bell *The Acephalous Series*, wey dey feature figures dem describe as gender conscious, potentially sexual anaa sexualized, sam of wich get racial characteristics den sam of wich no get heads. *"They are on an endless, determined trek, a multi-part journey,"* she dey talk say, "It has elements of a forced migration."
### Collaborations
Insyd 2002, de Museum of Modern Art, New York, commission Ali make she create a wordless graphic novelette. De artist collaborate plus dancer den choreographer Dean Moss at The Kitchen insyd 2005 den at MASS MoCA insyd 2006 plus *figures on a field.* Dem later premier a performance at *Some sweet day* at MoMA, New York insyd 2012. Na *John Brown Song!* be an online project dem launch by de Dia Art Foundation insyd 2013. Ali ein outdoor billboard project for *Walker without Walls* at de Walker Art Center wey na dem document for season 3 top of de PBS series Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century.
## Collections
Ali ein works dey include insyd de permanent collection of chaw public institutions, wey dey include de Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY; de Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; RISD Museum, Providence, RI; de Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; den de Whitney Museum insyd New York City.

## Exhibitions

### Solo den group exhibitions dem select
Laylah Ali exhibit insyd both de Venice Biennale (2003) den de Whitney Biennial (2004). Oda exhibitions be as follows:

* 2024: *Is anything the matter? Drawings by Laylah Ali,* Marion Art Gallery, State University of New York at Fredonia, NY. January 23—April 14, 2024—traveling to University Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA. February 13—May 9, 2025; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME. October 21—April 19, 2026 (solo & catalog)
* 2021: *Sweaty Concepts*, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA
* 2020: *Never Done: 100 Years Of Women In Politics And Beyond*, Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
* 2019: *Laylah Ali: The Acephalous Series,* Silber Gallery, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD. January 29—March 16, 2019 (solo & catalog)
* 2018: *Through-Line: Drawing and Weaving by 19 Artists*, Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; *Body / Parts*, Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT
* 2017: *Laylah Ali: Paintings and Drawings*, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY. November 10—December 22, 2017 (solo & catalog)
* 2017: *Laylah Ali: Not Self Portraits*, curate by Lisa Jarrett den Harrell Fletcher, KSMoCA, Portland, OR. May—November, 2017
* 2016: *Black Pulp!* curate by Mark Thomas Gibson den William Villalongo, Edgewood Gallery, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT. January 19—March 11, 2016—traveled to Print Center New York, NY. October 12—December 19, 2016; University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL. June 2—July 20, 2017; Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT. September 19—December 10, 2017; De African American Museum insyd Philadelphia, PA. February 2—April 29, 2018; *Overgrowth*, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; *Radio Imagination: Artists in the Archive of Octavia E. Butler*, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
* 2015: *The Acephalous Series,* Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
* 2015: *ASSISTED*, curated by Jessica Stockholder, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL; *Come as You Are: Art of the 1990s,* Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ—traveled to Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA. June 12—September 20, 2015; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI. October 17, 2015—January 31, 2016; Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, TX. February 17—May 15, 2016
* 2014: *Personal Histories*, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; *Up Every Evening*, Season Gallery, Seattle, WA
* 2013: *The Shadows Took Shape*, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (catalog); *Ambiguous Histories: Selected Art from the Exit Art Portfolios*, Art, Design, and Architecture Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA; *Laylah Ali & Gerald Cyrus*, Pennsylvania College of Art and Design Gallery, Lancaster, PA; *Direct Democracy*, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia (catalog); *Painting Between the Lines*, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA (catalog); *Revelations: Examining Democracy*, Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
* 2012: *Laylah Ali: The Greenheads Series*, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA—traveled to Weisman Art Museum at de University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. March 2—June 30, 2013; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. September 7—December 22, 2013 (solo & catalog)
* 2012: *Thenceforward, and Forever Free*, Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI; *Under the Influence: The Comics*, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY; *The Female Gaze: Women Artists Making Their World*, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA (catalog); *Voluntaries,* MoMA, New York, NY, part of the “Some sweet day” series (collaborative performance with Dean Moss)
* 2011: *The Air We Breathe*, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA (catalog); *Painting Between the Lines*, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA (catalog); *Relatos extraordinarios: Laylah Ali and Abigail Lazkoz*, Sala Parpalló, Valencia, Spain (catalog); *Vivid: Female Currents in Painting*, Schroeder Romero & Shredder, New York, NY
* 2010: *Works on Paper from the MCA Collection, *Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL; *Collected: Reflections on the Permanent Collection*, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
* 2009: *Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art.* Art Works for Change, Stenersen Museum, Oslo, Norway—traveled to University Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, CA (2009–2010); Centro Cultural Tijuana and Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, Mexico (2010); Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL (2011); Global Health Odyssey Museum, Atlanta, GA (2011); Prospect.2 New Orleans den Newcomb Art Museum, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA (2011); The Art Gallery of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (2013); Fundación Canal, Madrid, Spain (2013); Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (2013); Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba, Canada (2014); *Paper Trail: A Decade of Acquisitions from the Walker Art Center*, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA; *Massachusetts Review: Celebrating Fifty Years of Covers*, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA; *If I Didn't Care: Generational Artists Discuss Cultural Histories*, The Park School, Baltimore, MD
* 2008: *Laylah Ali: Notes/Drawings/Untitled Afflictions*, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA (solo & catalog)
* 2008: *Beyond Drawing: Constructed Realities*, Ohio University Art Gallery, Athens, OH; *Fantastical Imaginings*, The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE—traveled to Julio Fine Arts Gallery, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, MD (2009); *Political Circus*, Ritter Art Gallery, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL; *On the Margins*, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, MO (catalog); *Disguised*, Rotwand Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland; *Out of Shape*, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY (catalog); *Taking Possession*, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, AR; *Perverted by Theater*, Apexart, New York, NY; *Pandora's Box*, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada (catalog); *Quadrennial 2008*, U-Turn Quadrennial for Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark (catalog); *Text/Messages: Books by Artists*, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
* 2007: *the kiss and other warriors, *Institute of International Visual Arts, London, England (solo & catalog)
* 2007: *Drawings from the Typology Series*, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA—traveled to University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA; University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ (solo & catalog)
* 2006: *Alien Nation*, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England—traveled to Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, England (catalog); *Cult Fiction*, Hayward Gallery, London, England (catalog); *Counterparts: Contemporary Painters and Their Influences*, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA (catalog); *Running Around the Pool*, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL (catalog); *XXS*, Sommer Contemporary Art Gallery, Tel Aviv, Israel; *American Matrix*, Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; *Black Alphabet*, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland (catalog); *Having New Eyes*, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO
* 2005: *The Body. The Ruin*, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia (catalog); *Cut*, Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA; *Vivi-Seccion: Dibujo Contemporaneo*, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico; 303 Gallery, New York, NY
* 2004: *Laylah Ali: Types, *Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO (solo & catalog)
* 2004: *Whitney Biennial 2004*, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (catalog); *Material Witness*, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, OH (catalog); *The 10 Commandments*, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
* 2003: *Crosscurrents at Century's End: Selections from the Neuberger Berman Art Collection*, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA—traveled to Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL; Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL (catalog); *Fault Lines: Contemporary African Art and Shifting Landscapes*, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (catalog); *me & more*, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland (catalog); *Splat! Boom! Pow! The Influence of Cartoons in Contemporary Art*, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX—traveled to ICA, Boston, MA; Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (catalog)
* 2002: *Projects 75: Laylah Ali, *The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (solo & catalog)
* 2002: *Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation*, Miller ICA, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA—traveled to Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA; University of North Texas, Denton, TX; Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA (catalog); *Fantasyland*, D’Amelio Terras, New York, NY; *First Person Singular*, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; *Painting in Boston*, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA
* 2001: *Laylah Ali: 2000 ICA Artist Prize,* Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (solo & catalog)
* 2001: *Paintings on Paper,* Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA (solo)
* 2001: *Against the Wall: Painting Against the Grid, Surface, Frame*, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; *Freestyle*, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (catalog); *FRESH: 1998—2000*, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY; *Guarene Arte 2001*, Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy; *A Work in Progress: Selections from the New Museum Collection*, New Museum, New York, NY
* 2000: *Art on Paper 2000*, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC
* 1999: *Laylah Ali: Small Aggressions*, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL (solo)
* 1999: *Bizarro World! The Parallel Universes of Comics and Fine Art*, Rollins Museum of Art, Winter Park, FL; *Collectors Collect Contemporary*, ICA, Boston, MA; *The 1999 deCordova Annual Exhibition*, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA (catalog); *No Place Rather than Here*, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
* 1998: *Paradise 8*, Exit Art, New York, NY; *Posing*, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA; *Selections Summer 1998*, The Drawing Center, New York, NY; *Telling Tales*, Atrium Gallery, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
## Awards
Na dem award Laylah Ali a number of grants, residencies den awards, wey dey include de Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters den Sculptors Grant insyd 2008, de Joan Mitchell Foundation Residency insyd 2018, de United States Artists Fellowship, as well as dem honor am as an artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College, Yaddo, Headlands Center for the Arts, den Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

## References


## Bibliography
Artist books, exhibition catalogs, print editions den press dem select:
**Is Anything the Matter? Drawings by Laylah Ali*. Essays by Karen Kurczynski den Arisa White; interview plus Romi Crawford, Marion Art Gallery, SUNY Fredonia, NY, 2024. 
*Four letterpress prints (edition of 250) from “Self-Portraits plus Nat Turner ein Vision” 1994 series, print den publish by Pellinore Press, Baltimore, MD, in collaboration plus Goucher College, 2019.
**Laylah Ali: The Acephalous Series*. Essays by Alex Ebstein, Tisa Bryant, Kaitlyn Greenidge; interview plus Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Silber Gallery, Goucher College, Baltimore, MD, 2019. 
**Comfort with Rage.* Silkscreen print (edition of 100) commission by Printed Matter for NY Art Book Fair, print den publish by Kayrock Screenprinting, Brooklyn, NY, 2018.
**Sixteen Drawings*. Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY, 2017.
**Laylah Ali: The Greenheads Series*. Essays by Julia Bryan-Wilson den Kevin Young; interview plus Deborah Rothschild, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA, 2012. 
**Laylah Ali: Note Drawings*. Essay by Dina Deitsch; interview plus Kevin Young, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA, 2008. 
**Laylah Ali: Typology.* Essay by Alex Baker; interview plus Kara Walker, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 2007. 
**Notes with Little Illustration.* Institute of International Visual Arts, London, book design by de artist den Nicole Parente, 2007.
**The Believer: The Visual Issue.* Interview plus Tisa Bryant, p. 79, Dec. 2005 - Jan. 2006
**Types.* Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, MO, 2005 
**Untitled.* Aquatint etching print (edition of 50) publish by Wingate Studio, Hinsdale, NH, 2002. Insyd de collection of de RISD Museum.
**Untitled.* Graphic novelette publish on de occasion of Projects 75 for The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, digital production by Nicole Parente, 2002.
**Laylah Ali: ICA Artist Prize 2000.* Essays by Jessica Morgan and Suzanne Wise; interview plus Rebecca Walker, ICA Boston, MA, 2001. 

## External links
*Laylah Ali: Meaning | Art21 "Exclusive"
*artnet Asks: Laylah Ali
*Laylah Ali | Dia Art Foundation