Aliona Ortega Fine Art is pleased to present “Practical Alchemy”, our summer group exhibition. Bringing together works ranging from oils to digital, Practical Alchemy examines the enduring fascination with material transformation and alchemical thinking in art making. The group exhibition featuring works by artists who have engaged with transformative concepts at key moments in their practice, including virtual and digital artist Miguel Chevalier (France / born in Mexico, 1959), painters Ronald Dupont (Belgium, born in 1961), and Jonathan Huxley (UK, born in 1965); multi-disciplinary artist Jorge Enrique (USA/born in Cuba, 1960); installation artist / photographer Rune Guneriussen (Norway, born in 1977), and sculptor Alain Le Boucher (France, born 1950).
Known as “Ars Magna” (Medieval Latin for ‘great art’) and typically related to the pursuit of transforming metals into gold, or finding universal remedies for disease, alchemy has accumulated rich material and symbolic associations as it has evolved across different cultural and historical contexts. Alchemists manufactured pigments that artists used in their paintings, while artists modeled new ways of seeing and knowing the world. The studio and the laboratory were closely connected. Some artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, even saw alchemy as a rival, competing to become the “master of nature.” Imagining the artist’s studio as a laboratory, this exhibition explores artistic alchemy through the distinct perspectives of each artist as they undertake experimental approaches of engaging with the world around them.
“Practical Alchemy” opens to the public on July 13th, 6-9 pm, and remains on view through August 31st, 2024.