GUT FEELINGS
2024-25, series, oil on wood panel, dimensions variable
“Oh fruit blessed above all others Good before, in the middle and after the meal, But perfect behind.” Francesco Berni, Peach Poem, 1522
“Do I dare to eat a peach?” T.S.Eliot, The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock, 1911
“The tomato sheds a light of its own. It too is globular like the sun, majestic like the sun - but benignly so.” Pablo Neruda. Ode to Tomato, 1954
Gut Feelings series explore visual strategies to subvert censorship, It 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.
Installation view: Alina Bliumis Gut Feelings, SITUATIONS NYC, March 27 - May 3, 20025