Zakariya Abdul-Qadir

September 8 - October 2, 2022

With “A Tale of Two Cities” Abdul-Qadir not only compares the cities of Brooklyn and Hudson, NY but more specifically the two drastically different communities that often are only a block away from each other.  Growing up in Section 8 housing in Brooklyn, he was always aware that the daily life of his family and neighbors was dramatically different from the life of those in neighboring, more affluent, neighborhoods.  After the loss of his job at the start of the pandemic he came to the Hudson Valley so that he could use this forced time off to focus solely on his painting.  Wandering the streets of Hudson he quickly became aware of the similarities between Hudosn and Brooklyn, with the community in Bliss Tower living a very different life from people who live on or frequent Warren Street.  

Abdul-Qadir looks at both the people and the buildings that face these divides.  When presenting the people who either reside in or serve a neighborhood, he first sketches with watercolor crayons on brown paper bags.  Abdul-Qadir explains the thoughtful use of brown paper bags in this way, “The discriminatory history of the brown paper bag tests are not lost on me, however, I choose to use them as an opportunity to bring awareness to people of color rather than to divide. I find the tone of the paper allows a wider range of pigments to be expressed, providing a rich background for my color studies.”  These “Living Legends” are then transferred to 12” x 12” panels and completed with oils.  As a group these portraits create a collection of people engaged in civil discourse and the pursuit of change.

The buildings are rendered on large canvases in order to display the scale of the object, as well as its significance.  He may capture the eerie silence seen from a street corner or reveal the anxiety that comes with a new building’s construction.  This development is often followed by an increase in rent for the neighborhood's original citizens.

Abdul-Qadir invites you to, “experience the series as a whole and reflect on the inequities and injustices in American cities.  Take a deeper look into our local government systems and our elected officials. What do these buildings represent to you? What symbols do they evoke? I want my work to give a lens to the viewer and create a dialogue between the viewer and the art.”

Zakariya Abdul-Qadir was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in a four bedroom apartment with three siblings, where his parents still reside.  He currently lives in South Brooklyn, just far enough from the trendy ring of neighborhoods surrounding Prospect Park that the rent for his small apartment was affordable.  He graduated in 2011 from City University of New York, Brooklyn College.  He has exhibited with The Painting Center, White Bear Center for the Arts, I Like Your Work, and Open Studio Hudson.