The Origin of the Milky Way, 2024
Medium: Hand-crocheted bobbin lace, starch
Dimensions: Approximately 24" x 20" [62 cm x 51 cm]
This work will be shipped from Lisbon. The listed price does not include shipping. We will contact the buyer within 24 hours of purchase to coordinate shipping, with the shipping cost to be covered by the buyer.
Description
In this piece Alicja Biała uses the fragility of traditional lace work to create an image of femininity. This self-portrait piece makes reference to The Origin of the Milky Way by Jacopo Tintoretto, a Renaissance piece that Biała studied closely at the National Gallery in London.
The lacework is intricately crafted with thousands of needles totalling over 2kg, a violent image of creation traditionally performed by women resulting in lacework form that embodies finesse, patience and intricacy.
Alicja Biała is an artist working across media and scales. Biała initially gained attention with her large-scale public paintings, followed by her politically charged Polish Cut-Out series (Wycinanki Polskie). Her more recent work includes large public sculptures like the totemy series (www.totemy.org), etchings, paintings, and her hanging light sculptures derived from Slavic pagan mythology (pająki), the newest of which is shown in this show.
Her work incorporates a mixture of slavic folk and current environmental themes that bring the political and personal spheres of contemporary life into proximity. Through pieces like her acid series, in which metal curtains are painted and etched in large contaminated mine tailing ponds, she challenges our place as individuals within a shared world. She has received widespread press, and multiple awards, and is in numerous private and national collections.
Biała graduated from The Royal Drawing School in 2023 and holds a Master's degree from The Royal College of Art in London. Biała, like her work, moves fluidly, being based between Poznan (PL), London and Amsterdam.