BLOOD TIES: Alina Orav Solo Exhibition

LOCATION: Dateline - 3004 Larimer St

CATEGORY: Art Events

PAST DATE AND TIME:

• Sat, Jun 29, 2024 - Wed, Jul 31, 2024  

Opening Reception Saturday June 29th 6-11pm

Blood Ties marks Alina Orav’s inaugural solo exhibition in the United States, presenting her latest paintings and sculpture inspired by the transformative experience of childbirth.

The explicit and empowering depictions of female bodies giving birth to humans, encountered throughout the show, draw inspiration from the artist’s own first-hand labour, numerous interviews with women about their diverse reproductive experiences and research on deliveries within bloodlines.

The monumental trees and intimate body parts displayed in the gallery were hand-sculpted one by one using recycled paper waste consumed and repurposed from the artist’s own household in Colorado during the creation of these sculptures. Strict, balanced and rhythmic compositions in the paintings depict human bodies as part of the cyclical ecosystem, emphasizing their biological connection to soil and plants amidst the seductive natural world.

Across the exhibition, recurring strands and repetitive circular shapes and forms, dictated by the numerous elements within the imagery of birth, also reference regularity, heritage and coincident connections within the family tree as well as the cyclical nature of life.