Championed Artist
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Overview
Shadi Al-Atallah creates large-scale figurative paintings. The dark and dynamic figures depicted in the mixed-media works are distorted self-portraits. Drawing connections between the Queer ballroom scene and folkloric dance traditions from the African diaspora, Al-Atallah explores ideas of performativity, spirituality and catharsis.
Working in rapid motion, Al-Atallah paints fast to avoid their thoughts slipping and each painting documents a single hazy moment in time, examining the space between the mundane and the spiritual. Al-Atallah has further described painting as a means to escape the constraints of language. It allows them to invent genderless figures, an ambiguity that language rarely grants. That the work remains enigmatic, also invites the viewer to connect with the artwork on their terms.
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Works
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Contact Form
Send me more information on Shadi Al-Atallah
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Biography
Courtesy of Lyra Collection
B. in Saudi Arabia, 1994. Based in London, UK.
Education
2018 - 2021 MA Painting, Royal College of Art, London (UK)
2013 -2018 BA Illustration, University of the Arts, London (UK)
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Hole, Niru Ratnam Gallery, London (UK)2023 Rapture, Steve Turner, Los Angeles (USA)
2023 Fistfight, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
2022 Waters That Never Quench, Steve Turner, Los Angeles (USA)
2021 I Lost the Title On the Plane, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
2019 Fuck I’m Stuck, J Hammond Projects, London (UK)
2018 Roadblocks, Cob Gallery, London (UK)
Institutional Exhibitions
2024 I'm Not Afraid Of Ghosts, Palazzo Tiepolo Passi, Italy
2023 Unruly Bodies, Goldsmiths CCA, London (UK)
2023 Dreaming of Home, The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York (USA)
Fairs
2024 London Art Fair, Guts Gallery
2023 Untitled, Miami Beach, Steve Turner
Group Exhibitions
2025 The Body Speaks, Guts Gallery, London (UK)2024 Gazing Bodies, CFHILL, Stockholm, Sweden (SE)
2024 Eighteen Painters, Andrew Kreps, New York (USA)
2024 Ultraviolet, KKweer Art, London (UK)
2023 Saints and Sinners, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
2022 Somatic Markings, Kasmin Gallery, New York (USA)
2022 Figuring, Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles (USA)
2022 Them, Juxtapoz Magazine x Perrotin, Hong Kong (HK)
2022 And this Skin of Mine, To Live Again a Second Time, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
2022 What Now PM/AM, London (UK)
2021 Queer Circle, Victoria Miro x Out Collective, London (UK)
2021 Reality Check, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
2021 A New Art World, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
2021 Introducing, Guts Gallery at The Shop, Sadie Coles HQ, London (UK)
2020 Begin Again, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
2020 Paintings on, and, with paper, Cob Gallery, London (UK)
2020 When Shit Hits the Fan, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
2020 NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT, Public Gallery, London (UK)
2020 Alter Ego, Unit London, London (UK)
2020 Without a Painter, The Fitzrovia Gallery, London (UK)
2019 The Head The Hand, Blank Projects, Cape Town (South Africa)
2019 Sharks, Swim Gallery, San Francisco (US)
2019 Absinthe, Collectivending, Spit and Sawdsut, London (UK)
2018 AFROPUNK x 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning Present: People Art Resistance, London (UK)
2018 LDN WMN, Tate Collective, public commission, London (UK)
2018 BBZ BLK BK, Copeland Gallery, London (UK)
Talks/Events/Projects
2020 Eating at the Same Table x Fuck I’m Stuck, London (UK)
2019 The Art of Creativity, Tate Britain, London (UK)
2019 CommuneEAST x The Curtain Hotel, London (UK)
2019 “Intersect”, Cambridge Univeristy Queens’ Art Festival, Cambridge, (UK)
2019 “Gender Fuckery in Contemporary British Art” at b.Dewitt Gallery
2019, London, (UK) 2019 CommuneEAST x Selfridges, London (UK)
2018 Insights: Beyond Gender, Tate Modern, London (UK)
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Exhibitions
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The Body Speaks
10 Jan - 4 Feb 2025Read more -
Shadi Al-Atallah
We Are Only A Temptation 13 Dec 2024Read more -
Shadi Al-Atallah
Fistfight 8 Sep - 25 Oct 2023Read more -
Saints and Sinners
9 Jun - 7 Jul 2023Read more -
And this skin of mine, to live again a second time
2 - 23 Jun 2022Guts Gallery is pleased to present a new group exhibition in late Spring 2022, the first group show in our new permanent HQ in London. ‘And this skin of mine,...Read more -
SHADI AL-ATALLAH
I LOST THE TITLE ON THE PLANE 7 - 14 Oct 2021These works and the title itself are formed from moments in transit, working and existing in a state of fluidity between time zones, locations and introspection. I LOST THE TITLE...Read more -
REALITY CHECK
23 Sep - 3 Oct 2021Opening: Thur 23 Sept 6-9pm Exhibition Location: Anderson Contemporary, Carpenter’s Wharf Studios, 4b Roach Road, London E3 2PA Via Monier Road Footbridge Regular Opening Hours: Wed - Sun 11-6pm Guts...Read more -
A NEW ART WORLD
A NEW ART WORLD IS POSSIBLE. 22 - 29 Jul 2021Private View: Thursday 22 July 6-9pm Opening Hours: Tues - Sun 11am - 6pm Location: 147 Stoke Newington High Street, London, N16 0NY No RSVP's required BUY THE MANIFESTO PRINT...Read more -
INTRODUCING
London Gallery Weekend at The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ 4 - 6 Jun 2021London Gallery Weekend 4-6 June 2021 11am - 8pm (Opening day) 11am - 6pm (Regular hours) The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ, 62 Kingly Street, London W1B 5QN Directions >...Read more
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Press
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Exhibitions to leave the house for in February 2025
Ashleigh Kane, Dazed, 30 Jan 2025 -
The Body Speaks
Art Plugged, 16 Jan 2025 -
Who. What. Where? No. 97
Scarlett Coughlan, Hunger, 15 Jan 2025 -
Viewing ‘The Body Speaks’ at Guts Gallery
The Wick, 10 Jan 2025 -
Meet the most exciting young artists in London right now
Nancy Durrant, The Standard, 15 Oct 2024 -
London Art Fair 2024 Interviews
Shadi Al-AtallahJamie Hope , Guts Gallery , 16 Jan 2024 -
Images exploring the ideal of queer domesticity
Christina Elia, i-D Magazine, 5 Oct 2023 -
An exhibit celebrating queer domesticity is coming to Soho
Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner, Time Out Magazine, 28 Aug 2023 -
At the Leslie-Lohman, Queer Artists Transform Our Understanding of Home
Maxwell Rabb, Artsy, 27 Oct 2023 -
5 Shows to See in London During Frieze Week
Elizabeth Fullerton, ARTnews, 9 Oct 2023 -
Radio Juxtapoz, ep 119: A Fistfight with Shadi Al-Atallah
Doug Gillen, Juxtapoz Magazine, 21 Sep 2023 -
Shadi Al-Atallah Stunning "Fistfight" in London
Evan Pricco, Juxtapoz Magazine, 13 Sep 2023 -
An exhibit celebrating queer domesticity is coming to Soho
Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner, Time Out Magazine, 28 Aug 2023 -
Contemporary Artists Are Liberating the Body from Restrictive Ideals
Emily Steer, Artsy, 11 Jul 2023 -
Brilliant Things to Do This July
Daisy Woodward, AnOther Magazine, 4 Jul 2023 -
‘Saints and Sinners’ at GUTS Gallery Refuses to Let Us Look Away
Emily Burke, Elephant, 30 Jun 2023 -
MUST-SEE EXHIBITIONS BY QUEER ARTISTS
Marni McFall, FLANNELS, 15 Jun 2023 -
Guts Gallery wants to “disrupt” with its new show on LGBTQIA+ identity
Liz Gorny, It's Nice That, 15 Jun 2023 -
SAINTS AND SINNERS
Adriano B., Fucking Young!, 13 Jun 2023 -
Reflections and Resilience: The Bold Spectrum of LGBTQIA+ Artistry at the ‘Saints and Sinners’ Exhibition
Vanity Teen, 13 Jun 2023 -
The defiant new queer art show fuelled by ‘disgust at the world’
Zoe Whitfield, Dazed, 9 Jun 2023 -
"SAINTS AND SINNERS" AT GUTS GALLERY DEPICTS A JOURNEY OF LGBTQIA+ RESILIENCE
Sofia de la Cruz, Hypebae, 8 Jun 2023 -
Saints and Sinners
Art Plugged, 8 Jun 2023 -
Art shows to leave the house for in June 2023
Ashleigh Kane, Dazed, 5 Jun 2023 -
‘Saints and Sinners’ platforms LGBTQIA+ artists during Pride Month.
QX Magazine, 1 Jun 2023 -
GUTS 2022 CLOSING EXHIBITION IN SUPPORT OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN IRAN
Mark Westall, FAD Magazine, 15 Dec 2022 -
Art shows to leave the house for this June
Ashleigh Kane, Dazed , 2 Jun 2022 -
FAD Magazine feature Guts latest exhibition REALITY CHECK
Mark Westall , FAD Magazine , 23 Sep 2021 -
DAZED features latest Guts exhibition, REALITY CHECK
Emily Dinsdale, DAZED, 21 Sep 2021 -
Shadi Al-Atallah featured in The New York Times
Emily Lordi, The New York Times Style Magazine, 9 Sep 2021 -
Guts Gallery featured in The New York Times 'Gallery Weekend Brings London's Art Scene Back to Life '
Scott Reyburn, The New York Times , 7 Jun 2021 -
Top Ten Shows from the UK and Ireland
Mimi Chu, Frieze, 12 Feb 2021 -
Painter Shadi Al-Atallah examines gender, sexuality, racial identity and mental health in their eloquent works
RUBY BODDINGTON, iT'S NICE THAT, 23 Jun 2020 -
Meet the Artist Who Painted the Kardashians for Kanye West’s “XTCY”
RACHEL TASHJIAN, GARAGE, 30 Aug 2018 -
The London art you can take a virtual tour of right now for free
Lucy Scovell, The Glossary, 29 Mar 2020 -
This Instagram-only exhibition is full of London’s best young artists
Eddy Frankel, Time Out London, 24 Mar 2020 -
Begin Again: The online exhibition challenging austerity and racial oppression
Scarlett Baker , Love Magazine, 13 Aug 2020 -
Scrap that, lets begin again
TJ Sidhu, The Face, 13 Aug 2020 -
Ten's to see 'When Shit Hits the Fan', The insta-exhibition by Guts Gallery
Paul Toner, 10 Magazine, 2 Apr 2020 -
Art markets find high-tech ways to reach buyers
Melanie Gerlis, Financial Times, 27 Mar 2020 -
When Shit Hits the Fan (In the Artworld)
TJ Sidhu, The Face, 27 Mar 2020 -
Guts Gallery present ‘When shit hits the fan’ a digital Instagram exhibition
Mark Westall, Fad Magazine, 23 Mar 2020 -
Begin Again is the virtual art exhibition tackling racial inequality
Gunseli Yalcinkaya, Dazed , 14 Aug 2020
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