Beletic’s Neon Primitivism series is a natural extension of the artist’s commitment to primitivist ideology and ‘bringing the party and the fun’. This new series celebrates the canvas and painting as a form with the power to transfer primitivism, sensuality and emotion to a space in a modern return to Ab Ex style, mixing the ultra mattes of her signature clays, sourcing untraditional pigments, botanical dyes and oils. Pointing to forms that enlight the viewer towards multiple directions of cave paintings, the new york school, ceremonial body paints, line work, weathered artifacts, Charles Olsen’s Archaic Post Modern and pop art, Ali celebrates the vivid marriage and simultaneity of our shared archaic and contemporary inheritance.
This follows in the tradition of her prior sculptural work (almost an artistic take on experimental archeology) which traces primitive technologies and works with the experiential and the sensual - i.e. hand building mahogany and glass rain catchments, working with fire as a sculptural element, exploring artifact creation using primitive tools and techniques as a means to explore human ancestry, lighting up a boulder strewn desert for invitees to walk through, and building a surfboard from Tule reeds.