BIOGRAPHY
JUMP IN
Paintings by Alexandra Castelli
At Cas’s Catala, May-Sept 2018
Water is the universal medium that comprises a majority of our bodies and our environment, we all know that. We unknowingly “swim” through emotional and psychological tides, our bodies fluidly interacting and exchanging with the events and energies around us. How this affects the integrity of our inner selves is the very theme of these works: how does my experience of the world, my very existence in it, affect and define who I am?
The idea of painting people under water came to me in a quite non-artistic manner, about 20 years ago. My mother had given me one of those high definition cameras despite the fact that I am possibly the world’s worst photographer. My new toy was 14 point gazillion pixels, an unprecedented amount of detail at the time! I took the camera home and began photographing my kids in the pool, like any mom. My youngest had categorically refused to be photographed from the earliest age, much like the Amish or Masai. Every time I pressed the button, and those buttons had a l-o-n-g delay back then, my son would dive underwater. I persisted. He kept diving.
At the end of the day I dumped the whole lot into my laptop. I scanned hundreds of blurred photos of splashes and pool floors, searching for a single image of my young son. Because of the high definition, I was able to enlarge ad infinitum, and that is when I began to see my underwater images. They were distorted, abstracted and beautiful. The body perimeter was deeply affected by its watery environment, and light often drew abstract patterns on their surface. The images created a metaphor which speaks to me on many levels: how does our experience in the world change and define who we are? The question runs parallel to my journey of self-discovery and has been my subject for many years. I endeavor to describe my journey in paint.
In recent works the “change” induced by experience/environment has become part of the body’s own identity, no longer so much affected by outside forces. Distortions of form, light and color once induced by the exterior world now describe a deeper, inner reality INSIDE the body, integral to who we are. Our bodies are now containers of experience, still navigating, still exploring, still swimming…
Paintings by Alexandra Castelli
At Cas’s Catala, May-Sept 2018
Water is the universal medium that comprises a majority of our bodies and our environment, we all know that. We unknowingly “swim” through emotional and psychological tides, our bodies fluidly interacting and exchanging with the events and energies around us. How this affects the integrity of our inner selves is the very theme of these works: how does my experience of the world, my very existence in it, affect and define who I am?
The idea of painting people under water came to me in a quite non-artistic manner, about 20 years ago. My mother had given me one of those high definition cameras despite the fact that I am possibly the world’s worst photographer. My new toy was 14 point gazillion pixels, an unprecedented amount of detail at the time! I took the camera home and began photographing my kids in the pool, like any mom. My youngest had categorically refused to be photographed from the earliest age, much like the Amish or Masai. Every time I pressed the button, and those buttons had a l-o-n-g delay back then, my son would dive underwater. I persisted. He kept diving.
At the end of the day I dumped the whole lot into my laptop. I scanned hundreds of blurred photos of splashes and pool floors, searching for a single image of my young son. Because of the high definition, I was able to enlarge ad infinitum, and that is when I began to see my underwater images. They were distorted, abstracted and beautiful. The body perimeter was deeply affected by its watery environment, and light often drew abstract patterns on their surface. The images created a metaphor which speaks to me on many levels: how does our experience in the world change and define who we are? The question runs parallel to my journey of self-discovery and has been my subject for many years. I endeavor to describe my journey in paint.
In recent works the “change” induced by experience/environment has become part of the body’s own identity, no longer so much affected by outside forces. Distortions of form, light and color once induced by the exterior world now describe a deeper, inner reality INSIDE the body, integral to who we are. Our bodies are now containers of experience, still navigating, still exploring, still swimming…
downloadable .pdf
EXHIBITION LIST
ABSOLUTION, Casa del Cable, Javea, Spain 12 December, 2020 - 14 March, 2021
LOBOS DE MAR, el Portalon, D'Alt Vila, Ibiza 22 September - 27 October, 2018
photo credit Cat Milton
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photo credit Cat Milton
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Desde el Norte de Europa, Galerie Gaudi, Madrid 12-17 Junio 2018
JUMP IN! -- CA'S CATALA, Santa Eulalia, Summer 2018, 11am-2pm, every day
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Kolner Liste 2018, April 2018, Galerie Gaudi, Madrid, Spain and Koln, Germany
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LA CURVA, Feb13-March16, 2016, Ibiza
COMPLICITY, Summer 2013, Sa Cornucopia, Santa Gertrudis, Ibiza
IBIZA ART GUIDE EXHIBITION, October 6-27, 2011 - CASA COLONIAL, Ibiza
ALL AROUND THE ISLAND, Sept 23, 2011 ARTROOM-IBIZA
HEAT, August 9, 2011 ARTROOM-IBIZA
YOU WILL BE HERE, June 28, 2011 ARTROOM-IBIZA
ARTCAR and POP UP, April 4, 2011, La Galeria del Elefante, Santa Gertrudis, Ibiza
LAS DOS LUNAS, August-September, 2010
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Arte: Feminino y Singular II, Namibia, Ibiza, October 2009
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En Evening in the Studio, Ibiza, May 2009
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Body of Knowledge: Luce sulla Pelle, Milano, December 2008
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Arte: Femenino y Singular, Namibia, Ibiza, December 2008
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Le Cicale, Ibiza, September 2008
