The short film Studio Visit with Nivi Alroy is available to watch at the top of the page.
Nivi Alroy, is a multidisciplinary artist who delves into the realms of drawing, sculpture, animation, video, and installations. Her creative pursuits are fueled by her fascination with the interplay between science, nature, and the arts, forging seemingly improbable connections. Within her work, Alroy seamlessly blends scientific research with artistic expression, resulting in thought-provoking pieces that offer glimpses into an apocalyptic world beyond our own. To gain deeper insight into Alroy’s artistic process, we encourage viewers to watch the accompanying video.
One of Alroy’s remarkable qualities lies in her collaborations with a diverse array of creators, including scientists, choreographers, musicians, and writers. These collaborations add additional layers of interpretation to her work, inviting viewers to explore her art from various perspectives and enriching their overall experience.
Drawing inspiration from molecular biology, Alroy’s art delves into the intriguing concept of Fruiting Bodies. Within the microscopic world, individual cells band together to form multi-cellular structures, increasing their chances of survival by seeking out more favorable environments. Alroy’s interpretation of this biological phenomenon takes on an intimate and personal form. In her unique artwork, she attaches white porcelain to cardboard houses, creating a visually striking depiction of houses overflowing from a drawer, resembling a flowing river. Alongside this, a milky wave-like structure adorned with fragments of porcelain-attached houses completes this fluid composition. Through this artwork, Alroy beautifully captures the themes of interdependence and communal survival, highlighting the inherent connection and reliance within complex systems.
In another notable work, Pangaea, Alroy embarks on an exploration of shifting borders. Referencing the supercontinent that existed before the landmasses separated into distinct continents, Alroy begins by sketching and cutting out the form of Pangaea, dividing this once unified landmass into distinct parts. With careful rearrangement, she infuses elements from her on-location drawings made in dumps, transforming the reimagined Pangaea into a stunning representation of transformation, fragmentation, and recombination. Applying a porcelain coating and employing a meticulous painting technique that mimics monotype, Alroy creates a visually captivating piece that embodies the fluidity and constant change that underlie her artistic exploration.
In her site-specific installation titled Wave Land, Alroy continues to mesmerize viewers with a unique visual experience. Objects seemingly defy gravity as they appear to grow upward from an armchair. In Medusa Gigantea, electric wires and cables intrude into the space of the chair from a figure, disrupting traditional notions of order and structure. Alroy’s artworks present a city in a perpetual state of earthquake-like tremors, with homes on the brink of collapse. Yet, amidst this chaos, the pieces draw together as if magnetically attracted to one another, taking on a life of their own and resembling living beings that adhere to hidden rules.
Through her exploration of these themes, Alroy offers a profound and contemplative journey that blurs the boundaries between scientific inquiry and artistic expression, inviting us to reconsider our perceptions of the world around us.
The featured video Studio Visit with Nivi Alroy is part of the web series Yotsrim by Shachaf Dekel. Yotsrim includes five seasons and 73 episodes. The series won the Best Documentary award at the NYC Web Fest in 2019.
