Ritual Devotion - Installation shots & review

Exhibition Review: Ritual Devotion by Anastasia Pelias
Posted on April 25th, 2013, by R. Tan Singh

Anastasia Pelias' large blended canvases explore relationships between pattern and movement with a fulfilling ease. Her thinned paint layers beckon in a fractured cohesion that leads the viewer to call upon the inner need to find points of reference. The veins of turpentine within the paint elicit a response that hearkens to ideas of mark-making vs. expansiveness. It is this evasive question of how to marry spatial dominance with luminousness that makes Pelias' work so interesting. The presence she evokes is that of pared-down yet painstaking volumes of color that flow downwards in worshipful adoration.

Her works relate to the viewer a simplicity and sensitivity to light and shadow. Evocative with a sensual air, her color choices are contemporary blends that seem based in memory and suggestion rather than trend or blatant verbiage. The works are charismatic in a sturdy, unfettered way.

While neons dominate the fashion world, Pelias seems to draw from her own internal journey towards bright hues and natural essences with inventiveness and a humor for polarity. There are pleasing modes of resonance and vibration at the intersections of color. Objectively realized with a semi-caustic depth, the artist has found an alluring atmosphere to delve into. You are left with the impression of having traveled, while standing in one spot, a sense of being spiritually lifted while sinking into a vision. Ritual Devotion delivers.

Zoya Tommy Contemporary, Houston, TX
On view April 26th – May 25th, 2013