in between (2022) wheatpaste and foraged grasses
a soft landing exhibition view
“No work in the exhibition entirely embodies impermanence like Alyssa Alikpala's in between. The softest of grasses, gathered from the nearby Rail Path, are pasted into the furthest reaches of the gallery. Alyssa began using flowers, grasses, and wheat paste as affordable art supplies during the pandemic. Typically seen outdoors, her installations are pasted onto brick walls, concrete underpasses, and other areas where one might not expect to see greenery in the urban context. Temporary in its very nature, the artwork will wither and fall from the surface, leaving behind the faintest impression of what was there before. In the gallery, however, these diaphanous grasses and greens are adhered, not in haste, but slowly, softly, stem by stem guided by a considered and meditative process that not only informs the work, but drives it. Lasting only the length of the exhibition, in between both captures and releases the tensions held by the artist while the work was being installed and results in a portal to what might come after.”
Excerpt, exhibition text by curator, Jaclyn Quaresma