MARWA ABDUL-RAHMAN

Open That Shit Wide Let Me See How Big Your Mouth Is

June 11th - August 13th, 2016

Opening Reception: June 11th, 7-10 pm

EXHIBITION IMAGES

PRESS RELEASE

I don’t know, number one, what gangster rap is. Number two I wouldn’t classify what my music is as gangster rap….
That’s, it’s what it is. It’s poetry. To me it’s storytelling, poetry.
I didn’t say that. That’s not what it says…It says “I’m a victim for real. Everything I talk is for real. I really got my ass beat I really don’t like THEM.” The interviewer wrote ‘police.’
I really don’t like crooked police.

- Tupac Shakur, 1995, on trial for writing and releasing music that allegedly incited the shooting of a Texas State Trooper.

I wanted to set the record straight, that, people hear a lie long enough, people believe it. …Don’t judge a person unless you have spoken to them one on one, ‘cuz what you hear is a lie, untrue. Jesus said to love the children and to be like children. He always surrounded himself with children…

- Michael Jackson, 1996, on trial for child molestation.

Lawyer for the prosecution: “Did you perform at the Virgin Mobil music fest in 2008 with Kanye West?”
I don’t know. But I know I did perform at this BADass bitch birthday party recently. She was crazy, stupid, thick…
I don’t recall.
I don’t know.
I don’t remember.

- Lil’ Wayne, 2010, answering questions in a deposition regarding the documentary made about him, which he was trying to block.

Defendant’s lawyer, in the beginning of the deposition, as defendant was answering questions rather immediately: “Just wait and give me a chance to object, ok?”
I don’t have to listen to anything you have to say. Guess what? Guess what, guess what? I don’t recall. I was found on YouTube. I think that I was detrimental to my own career… Instrumental.

- Justin Bieber, 2012, answering questions in a deposition regarding his bodyguard allegedly assaulting paparazzi.

On the advice of counsel I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question.

- Martin Shkrelli, 2016, in response to almost every question directed at him in a congressional committee hearing investigating drug price hikes.

SELECTED WORKS

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BIOGRAPHY

MARWA ABDUL-RAHMAN (b. 1974) received her BA from Yale University and her MFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA. She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Abdul-Rahman is a mixed media artist whose work focuses on ideas of perception, definition, boundaries, and fluidity. She is interested in the conversation between contrasting themes, and the belief that opposites connote a type of freedom through the act of boundaryless transformation. Her work aims to blur the distinction between positive and negative space, and challenges the viewer to find an awareness of art as a construction. This in turn extends to an awareness of one's surroundings, and varied perspectives that confront and challenge previously held ideas of truth. Ultimately, the re-examination of widely held ideas reflects the anxiety of our times, and opens up thought, especially in regards to meaning and interpretation.