ALESSIA PODGORICA - TO THE BONE
- Bel Esprit
- 20 gen
- Tempo di lettura: 3 min
BEL ESPRIT - ARTIUM SODALITAS
My work consists on combining the digital medium and the analogue techniques of drawing with graphite on paper. Such a bond tends to evolve a balance between the tangible and the intangible parts of the creative process. The compositions embrace the simplicity and the dramacity of graphic art, merging it with the experimental side of digital software to create a new visual approach towards an old medium, usually associated with printmaking and illustration techniques.
The process starts with sketches, studying different fragments as individual subjects, to bring them together as an unified work and narrative. The human body, the female figure is a central protagonist, created to melt in natural and unnatural objects, with certain roles and meanings, in order to tell a story, an ambiguous one, and confess an experience.
To The Bone is a digital graphic art series concerned with symbolism of eroticism, intimacy, human fragility, the necessity of both rebirth and death. Eroticism reflects immersion into the most vivid emotions, while death marks the end of the physical journey for the individual. But the death keeps the memory alive. The act unfolds inside the skull, the desire is depicted as chaotic and offers questionable pleasure and tense desperation for detachement. A newborn is finding comfort in the safest space, while the threat clings to the mother’s skin. The danger is present, most intensly when one feels secure. The monstrosity is internal, aggressively tearing the body apart to scream. Bones are growing, it offers reflections, the pain provides clarity.
In the series, emotions of love, lust, sadness combined with anger, the pain of new experiences, and the anxiety of established but one-sided emotional bonds serve as reminders of the duality of extremes coexisting within the human psyche.
Intimacy is expressed through sexual acts, motherhood nurturing and self absorbtion. Bone and the skull are the key elements that hold the series together, as the deepest parts of the human body, the hidden structure that supports the muscles anatomy and protects the vital organs. Treated metaphorically as a protective armor for the human body living as an unique micro world, the bone reflects on the hidden consequences. By being exposed, it is not meant to provoke fear or intimidation, but to release the burden.
Alessia Podgorica (b. 1999, Tirana, Albania), I graduated from the University of Arts Tirana, Bachelor in Painting (2018-2021), and Master in Painting-Graphics and Teaching (2021 2023). Currently I am working as a graphic designer, while maintaining the consistency of my creative process. In my art practice, there is an accompanying conflict between the technical ambition and tendencies for artistic liberation. My work is evolving storytelling, never ending and a consistent interest in metaphorical potential of the visuals. Focused on the techniques of painting, drawing, graphic art and digital painting, I strive figurative art and the approach of surreal compositions, to build an indefinite symbolic narrative and open to interpretations. The distinctive and permanent element is the portrait, the human figure and the accompanying elements in relation to them. I focus on themes such as eroticism, intimacy, introspection and curiosity, aiming to build a personal expressive style, inspired by life experiences, thoughts and conclusions, but with an independence from reality and logic. Another important inspiration in everyday life and during the creative process is the history of art, especially surreal art, music, facts about philosophy and human psychology, which enable reflection on the human condition.
Projects & Exhibitions. • FRIDA, Festival of Women Artists, first edition, Tirana, Albania, 2023. • Identity, collective exhibition, Tirana, Albania, 2023. • DigiVerse, collective exhibition, by Satelite Zone, Albanian Visual Arts Network, 2024. • Open Studio, solo exhibition, curated by Minus Art Space, 2025. • Poster Design Workshop, Agimi Arts Center, Tirana 2025. • Prishtina Poster Festival, Fifth Edition, 2025.
