Arina Ailincăi: IN-SCRIPTED BODY / Art on the Avenue Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
September 14 – October 7, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, September 14, 5:30 – 8:30 pm.
Art on the Avenue Gallery, at 3808 Lancaster Avenue, is pleased to present Arina Ailincăi: IN-SCRIPTED BODY, a solo sculpture exhibition featuring recent works in clay of this noteworthy international artist.
Arina Ailincăi is a truly international artist. Raised and educated in Romania, she began her artistic career in Eastern Europe. In the 1980s she crossed the Atlantic and settled in Canada, where she was soon acknowledged as one of its most talented artists working in clay. At that time she also exhibited and lectured in the United States. Over the last several years, she has been invited to work, exhibit and lecture at major ceramic art centers and international events throughout Europe, including Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Turkey. Most recently she has held residencies in China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
Arina Ailincăi’s art focuses on the human figure, with the body cast using real bodies – often her own. The closeresemblance of the ceramic sculpture to the actual body is only a starting point for her deeper exploration of the universal human condition as an embodied self. Ailincai’s sculptures in clay are philosophically and metaphorically charged. The markings on the outer surface and the mysterious inscriptions in the hollow interior of the body transform the replica of a particular individual into an archetypal human vessel, holding the traces of inner life, time, place and history.
“My desire is to “write” a three dimensional poem to both the fragile physical body and the intangible world of our inner existence. I translate this desire into ceramic sculpture through the use of faithfully replicated, life-size clay body-casts and fragments. I press the clay into the plaster mold to create ”the shell,” a hollowed out body shape: an empty vessel containing the inner self, with its personal and universal history. The scripts imprinted on the interior walls of the shell, acquire symbolic and metaphoric dimensions, becoming a palimpsest of the entire human existence. While most of my works are made in clay, I make use of other materials and techniques, often combining drawing and photography in my installations. I want to synthesize two-dimensional and three-dimensional vocabularies into a visual language charged with meaning, which directs the viewers to sense their location, both within and without.” Arina Ailincăi
Arina Ailincăi is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) and the recipient of prestigious awards. Her works exist in many private collections in Canada, United States and Europe as well as in museums such as: Toronto Gardiner Museum of Ceramics, Yingge Ceramic Museum in Taiwan, Incheon World Ceramic Center in South Korea, Sevres Ceramic Museum in France, the Art Museum in Ankara, International Ceramics Research Center in Denmark, Ceramic Museum in Hungary and museums in Romania.
Gallery hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 12:00 pm to 5:30 pm or by appointment.
CONTACT
Miki Farcas
miki@artonave.org
Tel. 267-934-0593
Art on the Avenue Gallery
3808 Lancaster Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19104
www.artonave.org
Above: Arina Ailincăi, Reclining Figure, 2011, Ceramic (cast), glazes, Life size.
