Luke Abdallah
Luke Abdallah is an emerging artist, living and working in Sydney, Australia. Focussing primarily on expressive, abstract painting, Abdallah employs a multitude of tools and techniques to apply paint in swathes of texture and colour.
Entranced in his artistic process, Abdallah’s gestural paint strokes capture his actions and movement, forming a rich tapestry of rhythmic energy.
Born totally blind and living with elective mutism, Abdallah incorporates multi-sensory inspiration into his works, often drawing expressiveness from a myriad of stimuli - sound, smell, texture, vibration and taste.
Keenly aware of the importance of accessible practice, Abdallah invites his audience to enjoy his works both by sight and by touch.
Luke Abdallah x oliver fontany
Oliver Fontany x Luke Abdallah 2.
This piece was one of the duos first experimentations with collaboration, and aimed to determine the best ways to both accommodate and accentuate each artists’ unique and extremely bold styles. Luke completed the base layer, a combination of green, yellow, black and red, using a myriad of application tools, including brushes and natural materials. Oliver then overlayed shapes in green, utilising his regular complete coverage of a work, whilst employing thinner line work. This overlay provides a unique perspective to view the under layers, whilst evoking a new, busy and engaging feel to the work.
Oliver Fontany x Luke Abdallah 2. (The Vortex), acrylic on wooden board, 124 x 93cm
This collaborative painting between two great artists, Luke Abdallah and Oliver Fontany, received much warm praise at the opening of Oliver’s first solo exhibition.
The two distinctive styles work so well with each other. Luke’s fluidity, his long, loose, white, cane lines in tandem with Oliver’s blocky, sharp, condensed letters and numbers create a beautiful and unexpected harmony.
Oliver Fontany x Luke Abdallah 1.
This piece was Luke & Oliver’s first collaboration, and is such a strong representation of both of the artist’s styles. The vibrant background of greens and yellow was painted by the energetic, performative Luke Abdallah, and the numbering, a signature element of Oli’s work was overlayed in complementary colours. This produces an energetic, vibrant and somewhat clashing colour-field that constant pulls the viewer’s eye in new directions, exploring the layers individually and in tandem.
Oliver Fontany X Luke Abdallah (hessian)
Having explored working collaboratively on paper, the duo wanted to harness Luke’s floor painting methods, including his signature cane painting technique. This was a new mode of working for Oliver, but created a piece which has been much loved at numerous exhibitions.