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Adele Gilani (Born 1983) is an American born painter, printmaker, and designer specializing in abstract pieces and exploring spirituality, pop culture and veganism in her work. Gilani creates colorful compositions on canvas and in print. Betty Adele White was born on February 4, 1983 in Frankfort, Kentucky as the first of two daughters to David Keith White (of Scots- Irish and American Indian descent) and Robbin Terri (née Evans, of African American and English descent).

Early Life
A year after her parents divorce,at age 11, (1994) Adele discovered her mother brutally beaten and stabbed to death on the bedroom floor of the family home. Adele went on to graduate from Western Hills High School as Salutatorian with Honors and awards from Daughters of the American Revolution and Youth Salute Leadership of Kentucky. Adele won the 1999 Miss Franklin County Pageant and went on to participate in the Miss Kentucky pageant. Adele went on to graduate from the University of Kentucky, obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking. Upon graduating with a BFA from the University of Kentucky in 2006. After graduating, Adele continued her daily painting practice and attended a local beauty school.

In 2007, Adele left Kentucky after a failed relationship. Adele worked as a waitress in Alabama, taught environmental education and worked as a summer camp counselor at Frost Valley YMCA in upstate New York, she worked at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York where she took classes with Reiki master Brett Bevell, vortex healing founder Ric Weinman, yoga instructor Seane Corn, tarot with Marcy Currier, and psychic studies with Kathy Fitzgerald.

Influences
Reflecting on her influences, Gliani recalls the film Labyrinth, the mysterious woods behind her memaw’s house in Frankfort Kentucky, Burning Man culture, SARK, Kanye West lyrics, Alan Watts, the giant redwoods in Northern California, her time spent at Omega.

Personal life
In 2014, Adele began a relationship with politically driven doctor Hussain Gilani. In April 2017 Adele White married Hussain Gilani in a Berkeley ceremony that was covered by the New York Times Wedding Section. They reside together in Oakland, California with their dog, Pancho. Adele Gilani became vegan in 2016 and attributes much of her happiness to both her husband and vegan lifestyle. Gilani has found her voice on the topic of veganism and has began introducing her beliefs into her art. Gilani has gained a following in the Bay Area working as an artist and vegan chef. Producing canvases on the subjects of joy, love, peace and vegan lifestyle. Adele believes we are all connected as one living being and that art has the ability to heal, as well as prevent violent behavior.

Religion
Adele was raised Christian however left the faith in 2001 due to conflicted interests. And she decided to convert to Islam in October 2015.

2001-2006 Early work
Adele studied sculpture, printmaking, painting and drawing at the University of Kentucky. In 2005 Gilani participated in a National Student Exchange program and studied stone lithography, advanced painting with Leslie Price as well as fictional writing under Jim Dodge at Humboldt State University. Gilani’s artwork was primarily black and white at this time with the occasional grey ink wash. Gilani focussed on composition, the illusion of separation and chaos. An example of this work would be her early drawings where the buildings and characters are the same size and the faces on the characters are grotesque.

2007-2009 Into the world
In (2009) Gilani came back to Lexington Kentucky for a short stint and participated in an underground artist collective called “the Burrow Society” that focussed on guerrilla art. During this era, Adele’s work dealt with monsters and adult themes acted out by childlike characters. The painting, “Color Me Bad Ultralights” is a painting of pastel colored cigarettes in childlike packaging, almost like a crayon box. Another painting that describes this Era is, “Griffin,” a large scale painting scratched out like a child’s crayon drawing. In response to the panic Gilani experienced after a failed relationship, she exposing the humiliating, desperate reality that was her present life in a series of ominous figures sharply protruding from the main figure, gossiping in a chaotic tornado around him. This describes the Gilani’s experience of everyone knowing her lover’s intention to leave her before Gilani.

2009-2014 San Francisco
Adele moved to San Francisco to help with a friend’s Burning Man Art car in August 2009. Gilani took her first design job with San Francisco Firefighters Local 798. In 2010 Gilani began hosting live figure drawing events with her friend Josh Cohen under the name Dell and Philly as well as the Cultivation Collective. Gilani opened a screen-printing studio called Funshape Studios in 2010 with her partner, Keenan Brown, specializing in textile printing for startups in the booming startup community. They operated the business together until Gilani left in 2013. Adele’s paintings at the time were graphic in nature with a lot of traced and stenciled elements. It was overall a dark time in her painting career. Adele’s life as a painter improved in the fall of 2014 when Gilani met her soon to be husband, Hussain.

2014-Present
Adele’s current works are primarily autobiographical. Her relationship to pop culture, family, nature and her vegan lifestyle are common themes. Gilani uses her body as a starting point for a conversation about her relationship to world. Her distinct message is, “You are loved, you are safe, you are connected to everything.” Walking the line between abstract and figurative paintings, common symbols include, stones, flowers, and animals. Gilani includes glitter and resins, reckoning back to her previous childlike aesthetic with a more refined approach. An example of this would be, “The Octopus,” and 8 foot tall octopus, rich in color with a calming gaze.

Group Exhibitions

 * 2016 Artspan’s Art in Neighborhoods Program, Mission Bowling, San Francisco
 * 2016 City Art gallery, San Francisco
 * 2016 “ICONS” Juried Show, San Francisco Women Artists, San Francisco
 * 2016 Solo exhibition, Galvanize, San Francisco
 * 2016 Alumni Show, University of Kentucky
 * 2012 “Dia de los Muertos” Juried Show, Living Arts and Science Center
 * 2008 Solo exhibition, Third Street Stuff &amp; Coffee

Solo Exhibitions

 * 2006 “Fresh Liquor,” solo exhibition, Fresh Liquor, Kentucky

Grants

 * University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital