Diana Al-Hadid: Nolli’s Orders

“The Akron Art Museum, a Knight Arts grantee, was utterly accurate when they sent out a notice that “Nolli’s Orders,” Diana Al-Hadid’s sculpture, ”transforms” the museum’s contemporary collection gallery. It seems like almost an understatement as well, for the room-size installation piece is nearly overwhelming, along with being jaw-dropping for most of the visitors who saw it at an opening night reception a week or so ago.” -Roger Durbin, Knight Arts “Diana Al-Hadid's "Nolli's Orders" is liable to stop you in your tracks if you visit the Akron Art Museum, where it is on view through March 16.” -Dan Kane, Canton Repository Kent State University graduate Diana Al-Hadid’s monumental sculpture Nolli’s Orders intermingles landscape, architecture and the human figure. Hovering between architectural ruin and figurative sculpture, the thirteen-foot high sculpture is constructed of steel, polymer gypsum, fiberglass, wood, foam and paint. Nolli’s Orders was inspired by sources ranging from Italian and Northern Renaissance painting to Gothic architecture and Hellenistic sculpture. Its title refers to the eighteenth century Italian architect and surveyor Giambattista Nolli, who is known for the iconic map of Rome that he completed in 1748. Al-Hadid was born in 1981 in Aleppo Syria and currently lives and works in New York City. This exhibition is organized by the Akron Art Museum and is made possible by generous support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.