UNION GALLERY — Alicia Udvari

Scraped Knees on Peculiar Limbs

Alicia Udvari

Feature Wall
June 13 – August 5, 2023
Opening Reception: June 17, 2023, 6pm

Alicia Udvari is a Waterloo-based recent graduate from the Queen’s University BFAH Program. Their paste-up installation, Scraped Knees on Peculiar Limbs, features a site-specific configuration of woodcut prints, composed and pasted directly to the Feature Wall. Taking inspiration from forms found within human and insect bodies, and drawing from small- and large-scale patterns in nature, this intuitively-made work invites viewers to consider humanity’s interconnectedness with natural worlds, letting the work lead them to make their own subjective connections.

Image: Alicia Udvari, Scraped Knees on Peculiar Limbs, 2023, woodblock print installation | Photo: Courtesy of the artist

Alicia Udvari planning out their print installation

ARTIST STATEMENT

Scraped Knees on Peculiar Limbs centres around themes of nature and our connection to it as humans.

I am interested in working with abstract forms and creating pieces intuitively, which I explored through wood-cut printmaking. I printed multiple copies of these forms and layered them together to create a large-scale installation. This process was very natural and allowed my emotions and instincts in the moment to freely fuel the final composition of this piece. Most of my best work starts without a clear plan, which allows me to make something that feels more authentic to myself.

I highlight the weird, atypical beauty that I find in nature, including the human body. I find the human body is a very strange place to live in and wanted to show some of those stranger features in this piece and the beauty that can be found in it. The abstract freeform shapes relate to other imagery from the natural world, including plants, animals, and insects. The piece is up for some interpretation and I encourage viewers to make their own connections.

Alicia Udvari

Alicia Udvari is a visual artist based in Waterloo, Ontario, and is a recent grad from Queen's University’s BFA program. Alicia works in a variety of different mediums but specializes in printmaking, sculpture, and animation. Their work explores the relationship between humans and nature and asks us how to examine how we as people relate to the world around us.

UNION GALLERY is funded and supported by Queen's University, Alma Mater Society (AMS), Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS), Ontario Arts Council, City of Kingston Arts Fund–Kingston Arts Council and the City of Kingston, with partnerships with Stauffer Library, Cultural Studies and Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies. As a student-centred public art gallery, we are generously funded through AMS and SGPS student activity fees (eligible for individual opt-out).