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Restoration of Abed Abdi’s mural at Dresden Academy of Fine Arts

Testimonies of time in the University of Fine Arts. Restorer Valentin Bauer recounts

Object Histories

Periods:

  • 1971
  • 15.06.2022

Artists:

  • Abed Abdi
  • Valentin Bauer

WATCH VIDEO: Restorer Valentin Bauer talks about his work on incised plaster murals by Abed Abdi and Sami Hakki, who studied mural painting at the HfBK Dresden.The interview with Valentin Bauer took place on 15.06.2022 in room 045 of the Dresden University of Fine Arts

Abed Abdi’s mural at Dresden Academy of Fine Art (1971)

In the Dresden University of Fine Arts, a room is adorned by multicolored incised plaster. One of the works was made by the Iraqi art student Sami Hakki. It shows an abstracted group of musicians and has severe damage and missing parts. The second, better preserved plaster incision is attributed to the Israeli-Palestinian artist Abed Abdi. Abdi created the mural in 1971, after graduating from the HfBK.  More than forty years later, the restorer Valentin Bauer examined this very mural in his diploma thesis at the same university. For this purpose, he dealt in detail with the applied technique of plaster incision and worked out which restorative and conservational measures are necessary for the preservation.

Close-up of the plaster cut of Abed Abdi, a severely damaged area of the upper half of the image. Severe desolidification of the plaster and frame remnants, detached from the foundation and threatened by loss of substance. Among the possible causes are moisture and water (cf. Bauer (2020), p. 140). Photo: Valentin Bauer

Abed Abdi now lives in Haifa and remembers the incised plaster mural well. In another article, he tells the special story of the work that enabled him to stay longer in the GDR and to marry his wife.

Cf. Bauer, Valentin: Zwei farbige Putzschnittbilder (ca. 1970) in Raum 045 der Hochschule für Bildenden Künste Dresden, Diploma thesis, Dresden University of Fine Arts 2020, S. 140.

From the exhibition Art in Networks — The GDR and its Global Relations

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