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Leila Dallal grew up in Amman, Jordan and Bonham, Texas. She attended the University of Houston until she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in business. Leila now enjoys a life of reckless adventure seeking, envirohopping, and urban floating. She constantly focuses on seemingly pointless acts of art and participates in counterproductive investigations into the habits of productive humans and lazy cats.
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I recycle images from National Geographic and fashion magazines that once told a story of a society obsessed with wealth, consumption, and domination. Their stories are manufactured fantasies of prestige, success, and beauty; of superiority, ownership, and power. I cut images of that world apart to subvert it – to tell new stories of a different place, one that can only be created through chance and imagination.
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Every collage begins with a search. I look through stacks of magazines for images (a face, an animal, a field of color, a consumer product) that catch my eye, and cut them out for placement in the new world that I want to create. The discovery of one image determines the inclusion of another and eventually characters, environments, and stories form. Using a method that relies on the intuitive inspiration of the subconscious and the creative powers of chance, I subvert the coercive strategies of advertising and journalism.
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The finished work is a fantastic dreamscape, sometimes invaded by the anxieties, frustrations, and threats of modern urban existence. The beauty and vibrant life of the forest, the ocean, and the desert fills these worlds, but the menace of encroaching civilization is frequently present. Mediating between the two are my central characters, mythical winged women who are partially human and partially composed of elements from the environment that surrounds them. I see these women as the protectors of the fantasy world that they inhabit, but they too can be invaded by the ominous forces of the city – they are made not only of organic elements, but also of consumables and trash.
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from Off the Map by Hib & Kika
The loss of magic has a lot to do with the loss of imaging. When those billboards are all we see, of course they become our faerie tales. We stop noticing anything else and believe them. If we want a different story, we have to replace the images of money and perfection with new ones. We have to show ourselves pictures of new things to believe in. Sometimes making new images means using our hands creatively and living our life loudly outside the lines. And sometimes it just means learning how to see the world from your own angle: some would say sunset, but I say mermaid. The new images we make or see create room for characters nobody has written before, faces nobody has captured, destinies free of certainty. When we remake or images we remake ourselves. We have a little less room for perfection and a little more room for magic.
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Exhibitions
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November 2007
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Initiating Undergrowth, ARTCRAWL @ Kap & Suzy’s
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October 2006- 2008
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Wasteland, Dean’s Credit Clothing, Houston TX.
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February- March 2005
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Collage by Leila Dallal,Gallery 1724, Houston, TX.
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Group Exhibitions
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March 2007
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Yo Sho, Refuge Gallery, Houston TX.
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January 7, 2007
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Art You Can Drink To, @ Catbirds, Houston TX.
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September 2006
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Calacas, The ArtCar Museum, Houston TX.
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October 26, 2006
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Dia de los Muertos Gala & Silent Auction, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX.
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September 14, 2006
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Red Hot Dot Silent Auction, Women & their Work, Austin TX.
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August 8, 2006
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365 Openings, Museo {i}menos, Rio Grande Valley, TX and Frontera Tamaulipas, Mexican border.
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July- August 2006
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The Big Show, Juror Dominique Molon of the Museum Contemporary Art Chicago, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX.
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July 2005
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The Big Show, Juror Michael Olijnyk of Mattress Factory Pittsburg, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX.
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July 13, 2006
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Luck of the Draw 5, D!verseWorks.
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2006 Series
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The Name of the Tree, collage illustration for elementary school age children.
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June 7, 2005
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Luck of the Draw Summer Auction, DiverseWorks.
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June 22, 2005
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Palette, Sam Houston Hotel.
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2005 Series
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The First Strawberry, collage illustration for elementary school age children.
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April 2005
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Guess Who’s Coming to Supper, Acme Art Company, Cleveland, OH.
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Media
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February 2008
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Marie Cole, A&E, her first edition zine
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October 2006
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Nick Keppler, Cut and Run-On, Houston Press
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May 2005
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Tim Maloney, Artistic Schizophrenia, 002 Magazine
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