Alina Bliumis
Gut Feelings
Mar 27- May 3 2025
RECEPTION: Thurs, Mar 27th 6-8PM
SITUATIONS proudly presents Gut Feelings, Alina Bliumis's second solo exhibition with the gallery. Continuing to explore visual strategies to subvert censorship, Bliumis's latest series takes up the tradition of still life painting for its symbolic potential. Associations between images of food and sex have persisted for centuries in the arts, from the erotically-charged fruits appearing in Giovanni da Udine's festoons framing Raphael's exquisite 16th century fresco, Cupid and Psyche, to the 17th century Dutch still-lifes portraying tables overflowing with exotic produce to mirror the wealth reaped through new overseas trade and colonial ventures. Bliumis reinterprets the genre through a distinctly contemporary lens, incorporating the impacts of globalized trade, climate change, and authoritarianism upon our relationship to food and agriculture.
Monumentally scaled fruit, oysters and vegetables are set within moody, Romantic landscapes. Impossible to ignore, they speak to a sense of unease amid the rise of industrial-scale farming and GMOs. An enormous, single raspberry, blimp like, hovers in the air against a cloud-streaked sky; elsewhere, the discarded rind and seeds from a honeydew melon suggest a pair of spooning figures, accompanied by two cigarette butts. Cascades of plump tomatoes, pears, and cherries spill forth as chaotic bounties, highlighting the disparities between American supermarkets of imported plenty, and dwindling international aid packages airdropped by drone.
In a tumultuous era of sensationalized news, book bans, and fresh attacks on free speech, eggplant, peach, and watermelon emojis on social media have shown to be effective tools to circumvent restrictions, address bodily autonomy, and spread awareness around political issues. Addressing the gut as both a site of digestion and intuition, Bliumis's paintings urge viewers to trust their instincts, and read between the lines.
Oh fruit blessed above all others
Good before, in the middle and after the meal, But perfect behind.
– Peach Poem by Francesco Berni, 1522
Image: Alina Bliumis, Gut Feelings I, 2025, Oil on wood panel, 40 x 30 inches.