Aliki Palaska
25 Jan - 24 Feb 2007
ALIKI PALASKA
Peter Pan from Never-Never Land may have found his happy thought that helped him fly, but four-year-old Masih from Pakistan experienced a very different reality, working as it were in a carpet factory.
In her new solo exhibition, Aliki Palaska seemingly welcomes the viewer into the land of miracles. She uses the myth of Peter Pan, the eternal child, to speak about how hard it is to grow into maturity. Most of all, to underline the harshness of a childhood spent in abuse.
Works on display create an atmosphere of magic that makes viewers pause in mid-step: acrylics featuring images of baggage and mythical journeys, delicate landscapes covered in snow, glittery cats and playing cards, black-and-white vignettes featuring celebrated fairytale heroes, shadows and spells, goblins and castles – the show even includes a video projection featuring pink bubblegum sediments.
Being lonely, experiencing cruelty, being robbed of affection and tenderness are states the artist subtly hints at: carefully camouflaging them, presenting them in the garb of childhood innocence.
The image of the Disney castle is indicative of the concept mentioned above – an image composed by means of a handwritten excerpt from R. Y. Pelton’s “The World’s Most Dangerous Places”.
The exhibition attempts to approach a number of crucial social issues, using fairytales as symbols and childhood innocence as allegory.
© Aliki Palaska
Untitled 1 , 40x50, 2006
Peter Pan from Never-Never Land may have found his happy thought that helped him fly, but four-year-old Masih from Pakistan experienced a very different reality, working as it were in a carpet factory.
In her new solo exhibition, Aliki Palaska seemingly welcomes the viewer into the land of miracles. She uses the myth of Peter Pan, the eternal child, to speak about how hard it is to grow into maturity. Most of all, to underline the harshness of a childhood spent in abuse.
Works on display create an atmosphere of magic that makes viewers pause in mid-step: acrylics featuring images of baggage and mythical journeys, delicate landscapes covered in snow, glittery cats and playing cards, black-and-white vignettes featuring celebrated fairytale heroes, shadows and spells, goblins and castles – the show even includes a video projection featuring pink bubblegum sediments.
Being lonely, experiencing cruelty, being robbed of affection and tenderness are states the artist subtly hints at: carefully camouflaging them, presenting them in the garb of childhood innocence.
The image of the Disney castle is indicative of the concept mentioned above – an image composed by means of a handwritten excerpt from R. Y. Pelton’s “The World’s Most Dangerous Places”.
The exhibition attempts to approach a number of crucial social issues, using fairytales as symbols and childhood innocence as allegory.
© Aliki Palaska
Untitled 1 , 40x50, 2006