User:HAHA2424/Laylah Ali

Work
In Ali's earlier work, she would draw or paint something violent. She focused more on the action than the violence itself. In her current work, there is not a lot of focus on the act; she is more attentive to what happens before and after.

'''Laylah's work had a unique feature of including a level of emotion. She uses bright colors and cartoons to portray current events and socio-political ideas. She uses this unique approach of not using a specific event, so the audience can think through the art and have their own perception.'''

The works are small scale gouache paintings and drawings on paper. She is known to prepare for many months, planning out every detail so there is no room for mistakes. Ali's work is based on life experiences. Although one may not be able to tell, she says all of her work holds meaning and that what's in her mind transcends from her hands on paper. About the performative nature of her work, Ali says, "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's work included an artistic lens of caricature. According to Charlotte Seaman, "Ali’s work is not grounded in the academic tradition, however it is informed by the rich history of caricature, especially as humorous or mocking social commentary". Ali used a unique idea of caricature, Seaman states "Ali uses the visual language of cartoons, comics, and to some extent caricatures. Notably, though, her work is opposed to racial caricature in that it does not exaggerate features of an individual – rather the opposite: it turns individuals into signs or ciphers of generalized (though still racialized) human experience"

[https://art21.org/artist/laylah-ali/#:~:text=Ali%20often%20achieves%20a%20high,%2C%20social%20relationships%2C%20and%20betrayal. https://art21.org/artist/laylah-ali/#:~:text=Ali%20often%20achieves%20a%20high,%2C%20social%20relationships%2C%20and%20betrayal.]

https://blogs.umass.edu/arthist391a-kurczynski-2/2018/05/08/laylah-ali-drawing-power-play-and-violence-2/