Aliens R US

March 8 – 31, 2024 :: Space 776 37-39 Clinton St 1st floor, New York NY 10002

Space 776 is pleased to present its first solo exhibition with Dasha Bazavona.  On view will be new works in which the artist comes to terms with aliens, both internal and external; real and fictional.  Part of the gallery will have pieces related loosely to the “alien” culture of Russia, the artist (officially an “alien” herself in the US), and of course the celebrated aliens of the sky.

The works- oil paintings on board, sculptures, and hybrids- are a self-aware meditation on “alienation”. Recent paintings, in Bazanova’s typical gray and earthen hues, have introduced figures from her mother’s conversations: the Grays, the Reptilians, the builder-gods that Erich van Daniken and others say brought civilization to ancient man like Prometheus. 

In recent work that draws inspiration from the 1970s, the Golden Age of alien conspiracies, she depicts classic subjects such as Stonehenge and Easter Island under construction.  One recent work Usurpation, 2024 shows the US Capitol being sieged gently by craft and lizards bringing to mind the January 6th attacks in D.C.

Accompanying these paintings are small-scale sculptures of Russian grandmas.  The ceramic sculptures are created in a seated position, made to be set on edges- here installed on burned wood fragments, as if resting on the remains of some disaster.  Like the figures in the paintings, they are sanguine and not overly moved by the incredible events happening or just happened.  

Both the space and the earth alien are connected to structures here.  The grandmothers and their people have possibly burned down what the gods had given them, and now wonder if they are disappointments to the people who granted them the gift of civilization.  

Dasha’s solo show was written up in Art Spiel: “In her first solo show at Space 776, Dasha Bazanova’s oil paintings and ceramic sculptures engage with the theme of “alien” from various angles: the cultural alienation intrinsic to her Russian roots and her identity as an “alien” in the United States. She draws upon the 1970s, a period rich with alien conspiracy theories tying these themes to our present. The exhibition includes ceramic sculptures of Russian grandmothers, standing as symbols of endurance amid the aftermath of calamities and prompting contemplation on the legacy of alienation across generations. Bazanova elaborates here on the body of work in her show.” CONTINUE READING