Kazakhstan born artist Aliza Souleyeva-Alexander imports alluring colour and direct iconography into lush jewels that delve into personally representative universal icons to feed our hunger for meaning. Her persuasive explorations saturate our senses while touching our deeper longing for connectivity. Introspective insights address our trust in her guides to ancient depths of significance. Souleyeva-Alexander’s captivating work enables us to welcome her pictorial stories as verity.
“Bird’s Tales” Paintings explores narratives of how the artist relates to bird myth and legend (Raven Steals the Light), aphorisms that originate from sincere expectation, like the Russian saying, “Magpie has brought news on its tail.” (Conversation with Flamingo) and develops inspired corollary from experiences with birds (Second Night in Kolkata). Homage to art-historical references is unapologetic. Souleyeva-Alexander embraces ominous Rousseau mysteries and widens colour with Matisse joy. “Bird’s Tales” are allegories of pathos and enchantment, captive natures caught in charming fields.
"Aliza 2010" New Works, a visual diary of a year in the artist’s life begins with the winter months on Vancouver Island. Strands of greyed pink and blue rain-beads (Conjunction between Dichotomy and Duality) and triangular, redemptive flags flying in a gratuitous space (Liberation from Formality) or contained arrangement of expectant promise (Hidden Possibilities) interrupt murky washes. In March 2010, Souleyeva-Alexander traveled to Kolkata, West Bengal, India for the "AVISKAR - East meets West" exhibition at the Birla Academy of Arts and Culture. Her work continues to be impacted by this cultural immersion, explodes in influence from the sensory deluge and complex Indian street life. The previous wary ruminations look like memorials, comparatively. A resurgence of her powerful, multi-layered colour palate surges capturing disturbing portrayals – child beggars, the drudgery of rural life. Souleyeva-Alexander mesmerizes us with the intoxication of sultry crimsons and lemony ochre, brilliant indigo, enticing us into the dolorous circumstances and contradictions that entirely signify this cultural paradox. (Morning in Calcutta) is a sophisticated layering of paint and pictograph, harkening to Souleyeva-Alexander’s roots in traditional grattography. Scratching paint, she produces edgy drawing. This grattographic convention provokes the surface. Her pictograms fortify the resonance of bazaar life, remarking on how animals, objects, symbols are remote, illusory yet integral to social convention. Integrated surface dances, conversant with ambiguity and mystique of that locale. (Meditation on Geranium) slathers intoxicating purple and alizarin crimson-like hues, while quietly contemplating her musical past, pasted behind the paint, a formidable memory. Through Souleyeva-Alexander’s paintings, we see a sincere understanding of life fabric, painted with an understated force.
"Bird's Tales" Paintings
Goward House - 2495 Arbutus Road, Victoria, BC (PH: 250.477.4401):
1 Oct - 3 Nov 2010
"Aliza 2010" New Works
Gallery at The Mac - 625 Fisgard Street Victoria, BC:
18 Oct - 22 Nov 2010
Gallery hours: during performances or by appointment (PH: 250.361.0800)
Review by Debora Alanna
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