Under/Over: Dahlia Elsayed

Dahlia Elsayed writes, “The murals are all based around the idea of celebrating the brutalist architecture of the Newark Campus. The much-maligned architectural style features strong geometric shapes, repetition of modular elements, and raw materials. I wanted to use the physical experience of walking around the campus and viewing the buildings from multiple points—from eye level, from above and from below. So the painted shapes that appear on the walls are directly linked to those research navigations and echo the shapes of the buildings—the side view of the concrete awning on Boyden Hall, the thin windows in between concrete slabs of the Dana Library, the overhang of the roof of Smith Hall, etc.”

Dahlia Elsayed’s paintings and installations have been exhibited in group and solo shows in the United States, Poland, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, Italy, Armenia, and Egypt. Her work can be found in the collections of The Newark Museum, the US Department of State—Art in Embassies, Johnson & Johnson Corporation, The Jersey City Museum, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Noyes Museum of Art, Ritz Carlton Hotel NYC, and many more. Elsayed is currently an assistant professor of fine arts at CUNY LaGuardia Community College.