Connoisseur of tequila, ramen, donuts, and bread pudding, artist Abdi Farah appreciates the simple things in life. But he also appreciates (and creates) finer things by reimagining ordinary objects and their symbols in society.
A 2009 Ivy League graduate, Farah majored in Fine Arts with a concentration in painting, and minored in Religion, focusing on western religions and secularism at the University of Pennsylvania. Though his formal education in the arts impacts his artistic style, his very own unique creative process can neither be taught nor replicated. In a short interview, the up-and-coming artist, shares how his understanding of his own identity and love of black culture help to shape his creative lens and inspire his artistic creations.
1. Describe yourself, not your art.
"I'm from Baltimore. I love and miss my city. In many ways, I am in New Orleans because it reminds me of home. I am half black (African-American) and half Somali. While I was raised in a black household and in black neighborhoods, I have always felt a bit like an outsider to black culture. A lot of my art is an attempt to better understand black culture. I have almost no connection to my Somali self, except for my name. Perhaps my future work will deal with that side of myself."
2. When did you start being an artist? Have you always wanted to be an artist? What lead you to this path?
"Even as a kid I was always making things, drawing X-Men and Star Wars characters, building with Legos etc. Me and my cousins would sit at the kitchen table and draw all day. It wasn't until high school - I went to a very serious arts magnet high school - that I started thinking about art as a career."
3. What forms of media do you use and why?
"I was trained in traditional figurative drawing, sculpture, and naturalistic oil painting. Currently, I see myself as painting without using paint. I collage fabric and pre-existing objects and use their inherent color and shape to paint and draw with."
4. What is it that influences your art the most?
"In addition to some of my favorite artists - Kerry James Marshall, Andy Warhol, Glenn Ligon - I am most influenced by those things that people, who do not consider themselves artists, create, usually in memorial to a person or event: flags, flyers for one's club or church, family reunion or funeral T-shirts, mixtape CD covers, homemade Halloween costumes etc."
5. What art projects are you currently working on?
"I am in the midst of an ongoing series recreating and deconstructing high school marching band and championship banners in an attempt to highlight the latent symbolism embedded [in] formal power and beauty."
6. How and where can people buy your art?
"I update my blog, abdiart.com, regularly with works in progress and upcoming events. My comprehensive website, abdifarah.com is relaunching by the end of June. There, you will be able to view my full catalog as well as purchase available works. You can also follow me on Instagram, @abdi410."
7. Anything else you'd like to add?
"Obama 2016!"
