Cover image: The Sacrifice, 2023 stained wood, horn, glass eyes, and glass beads, 75 x 84 x 58 cm (plus adjustable beads). Courtesy the Artist and MOORE CONTEMPORARY

It is a rare privilege to truly feel a philosophy through art. To convey such complexity the artist must have a profound command of their craft and the self through which they can imbue ordinary objects with the deepest meaning.

Abdul-Rahman Abdullah in his exhibition Omens, now on display at Moore Contemporary, navigates a nuanced existentialism through which he and his audience can explore meanings in life and death, sleep and dreams, consciousness and inevitability, and the delicate spaces in-between.

Abdullah lives and works on Binjareb Nyungar country, on a cattle property in the Peel region of Western Australia. As is the case with the artworks in Omens, Abullah’s oeuvre often explores different facets of identity, culture and the natural world through the vehicle of magical realism, using his rural property as inspiration and points of poetic departure.

As Moore Contemporary serves as Abdullah’s commercial representation, the two are regular collaborators and the small gallery knows how to make Abdullah’s work sing. Upon entering the space, the artworks are read from left to right. Set against simple white walls and expansive panes of glass on both the walls and floor, each piece is given space to speak for itself with enough proximity for continuity in the viewer’s journey.

Though Omens is multidisciplinary, Abdullah’s work is at its strongest in his woodwork sculptures of animals. This is a common pairing of medium and subject for Abdullah, and through the wood he has an uncanny ability to bring a strong and pensive presence to each animal he creates.

The most visually striking of these sculptures is The Sacrifice (2023), which depicts the head of a ram mounted against the gallery wall with blood dripping from each nostril. The wooden head has been painstakingly etched to render the texture of the ram’s wool, which Abdullah has stained black.  The ram’s glass eyes are set into its face under two real rams’ horns, and the blood dripping from its nostrils are two rows of red, glass beads.

The ram in The Sacrifice reminds the viewer that there is a beauty in death as he is both dark and ominous, but also soft and familiar. He is evidence of a harsh and yet beautiful cycle of which we too form a part.

The budgerigars in Abdullah’s works Absence of light (2024) and I dreamt I could not sleep (2024) serve as sweet-natured keepers of the veil, exploring the dualities of life and death, consciousness and the void.

In each of these wood sculptures, a green and yellow budgerigar sits atop a canvas draped in black fabric. The birds face away from each other, their colours in stark contrast to the black fabric which is gathered at opposite ends of the canvases. They come to the viewer as friendly sentinels of the beyond and the parallel, gentle guides into the comprehension of both total absence and infinity.

Abdullah’s artworks always brim with meaning and Omens is no exception. Using his works like a torch through which to explore both the known and unknown, Abdullah thinks about, understands and feels deeply the fabric and phenomena of life itself and via this exhibition, invites you to walk with him.