ALEXANDRA KARAKASHIAN
unbecoming
06 . 07 . 17
29 . 07 . 17
SMAC Gallery is proud to present unbecoming by Alexandra Karakashian, a selection of new work in her signature style involving the combining of used engine-oil with traditional oil paint.
Working on both linen and paper in varying sizes, chance plays a vital role in allowing Karakashian’s process to unfold. Spring-boarding from landscape painting and formal abstraction, Karakashian’s practice engages her distinctive subdued-palette and subtly blurred subject matter that hints at various ambiguous forms. The resulting aesthetic reflects an intriguing atmosphere, evocative of the ‘calm after the storm’ where the beauty of decay and subtlety is at the center of one’s visual experience.
Reflecting on current issues of exile, mourning, migration and refugee status – ideas that are at the forefront of discourse around the Euro-African relationship – Karakashian explores the metanarrative of various current and historical societies’ relationships to ‘landscape’, both in Southern Africa and further abroad.
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