{"id":30818,"date":"2024-11-20T21:23:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T22:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/?p=30818"},"modified":"2024-11-20T23:12:37","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T23:12:37","slug":"alyina-zaidi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/alyina-zaidi\/","title":{"rendered":"Alyina Zaidi"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alyina Zaidi at Alexander Berggruen, NY, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, NY.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alyina Zaidi<\/a> (b. 1995, New Delhi, India) holds an MA in painting from the Royal College Of Art, London and a BA from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY; Newchild Gallery, Antwerp, BE; Indigo + Madder Gallery, London, UK; Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK; and White Cube, London, UK, among others. Zaidi is a London-based artist from New Delhi and Srinagar. This is Zaidi\u2019s first solo show with the gallery, following her inclusion in the gallery\u2019s group show\u00a0Katja Farin, Maria Farrar, Esme Hodsoll, Alyina Zaidi<\/em>\u00a0(March 1-April 5, 2023).<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Lost in the belly of a whale<\/i><\/a>, Zaidi establishes stronger narrative threads with more action than her previous work. Here, nomadic white strawberries attempt to herd their goats and are at war with imperial frogs. In the top left register of\u00a0Facts and hearsay\u2014an encyclopaedia of various natural and less natural phenomena<\/i>, these frogs steal the moon. Angels purchase\u00a0Moons for sale\u00a0<\/i>and, in\u00a0Dubious benediction<\/i>, guard pickle jars of frogs and moons. On occasion, the unreliable nature of history emerges where portions of the composition are swallowed by dark orbs Zaidi calls \u201cthe cave of the unknown.\u201d These nebulous scenes offer a mode of abstraction for the artist and indicate that there is more to learn about this universe.<\/p>\n

Further embracing reality-warping unknowns, Zaidi\u2019s paintings are filled with magic and mythology. As in previous work by the artist, cherry tomatoes and radishes become spirits, angels with opulent tentacled wings populate most paintings, chilis hang to ward off the evil eye, and rituals are performed around the moon for luck. New supernatural elements in this body of work include poltergeists who lurk in windows and sacred trees. In Zaidi\u2019s painting\u00a0Euphemia and the assassin<\/i>, she alludes to a version of the story of Saint Euphemia\u2019s martyrdom in which she was thrown into an arena with lions meant to kill her. In the Islamic tradition of indirect representation, rather than painting Euphemia as a person, Zaidi paints her as a bejeweled textile surrounded by lacy fabric. In a playful rendition of the tale, here, Euphemia is cradled in a hammock of lions\u2019 tails.<\/p>\n

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Alyina Zaidi, Perfumed veils and gauzy tails, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 16 in. (40.6 x 40.6 cm.). Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, NY. Photo: Mark Blower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Alyina Zaidi, Dubious benediction, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30 in. (76.2 x 76.2 cm.), Copyright the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, NY. Photo: Mark Blower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Alyina Zaidi, Facts and hearsay\u2014an encyclopaedia of various natural and less natural phenomena, 2024 acrylic on canvas, quadriptych, overall: 77 x 200 in. (195.6 x 508 cm.), each: 77 x 50 in. (195.6 x 127 cm.). Copyright the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, NY. Photo: Dario Lasagni<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alyina Zaidi at Alexander Berggruen, NY, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, NY. Alyina Zaidi (b. 1995, New Delhi, India) holds an MA in painting from the Royal College Of Art, London and a BA from Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. Her work has been included in exhibitions at Alexander Berggruen, New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-30818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interview","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30818"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30859,"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30818\/revisions\/30859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museumofnonvisibleart.com\/authorsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}