Lifted Labor
September 29 - December 2, 2023
Art is labor, and nowhere is this more apparent than Andrew Alba’s newest show Lifted Labor, which features roughly-hewn and boldly-colored paintings created with construction materials instead of traditional artistic media. Alba communicates anti-establishment narratives to the working class,” says Kelly Carper, the curator of Lifted Labor. “Alba’s work is raw, anti-academic, and frank in its depiction of contemporary politics and society.”
“Lifted Labor is a progression and continuum of Weighted Home, my previous body of work. Weighted Home established a deep, solemn connection between the soul of my stylized figures and their environment,” says Alba. “In this new exhibition, I complicate this paradigm by elevating my figures and the abstract labor they have come to represent.” Historically, Alba’s egalitarian artistic approach has boldly confronted contemporary issues surrounding politics and labor. His confrontational style attracted the attention of Ogden Contemporary Arts, where Alba met Kelly Carper. The art center’s inaugural exhibition featured Alba’s artwork, ushering the Salt Lake City-based artist onto the national art stage.
However, Lifted Labor is a clear departure from Alba’s earlier work, featuring deeply personal paintings laden with magical realism that illustrate the interdependent relationship between humans and their environment. Clues suggestive of Alba’s shift toward magical realism first appeared in Weighted Home, an exhibition at Froelick Gallery that featured Alba’s signature figures grounded and integrated into a dreamlike, earthly environment. Drawing from Alba’s reflections on his body as a vessel for history, ancestry, and emotion, the artist’s expressive brushwork and intense color palette render a new kind of figure in Lifted Labor. Alba reflects on humanity through a spiritual lens, surfacing and visualizing the human soul.
Opening Reception
Friday, September 29
5 - 7 PM
form & concept
435 S Guadalupe St
Santa Fe, NM 87501
info@formandconcept.center
505.780.8312
