A Night at Aleja’s Solo Show

Words: Faith Thurnwald 
Photos: ATOMICX
Event: A2Z

How would you define your most intimate moments?

For some it’s a good book on a Sunday morning, wrapped up in your doona with no where to go, for others it’s getting bent over in a bar – But for Aleja Hine it’s the afternoon sunlight hitting her friends face just right, as they discuss dating and dickheads – or dating dickheads (?) Aleja’s solo show captures that feeling of complete contentment that only ever lasts a moment.

As quick as it came, its gone – just like the men in my life – and you’re back to turning your page or getting railed. This is what makes Intimate Moments so special; the unattainable is contained on canvas. Moments that could be considered mundane are ripe with meaning, complemented by colours that’s depth bursts.

Aleja is a Brisbane based artist who previously predominantly painted hyper realism, with meticulous technique and vibrant colours, however Aleja’s solo show: Intimate Moments shows us just how large her repitware is.

Aleja describes Intimate Moments as a self-portrait through painting the people she loves. Each piece sits above recorded conversations of each moment, and each conversations ads an extra layer of meaning. Intimate Moments achieves what can be so hard when working with realism: it creates meaning.

The conversations below Aleja’s pieces add so much for me – they’re just snippets of Aleja’s life but they’re also social commentary on the interactions we make when we’re young, dumb and… (well you know how the rest goes).

My favorite conversation (below Jimmy) reads:

‘So annoying all the ideas I had in my head of things we could do together ya know. It’s like that’s the mourning part… letting go of those ideas, that never even happened.

Things we could have done yeah (…)

Well, I got back on tinder so…

Did you?

Yeah

I’ve been talking to this girl

Show me’.

.

The inevitability of re-downloading tinder is inescapable and fucking horrifying. So I don’t even bother deleting it anymore, I just disappear for a month or two and when the cobwebs come back; so do I baby! I always make a come back, but it’s less so an iconic Britney Spears come back, and more so like that chlamydia you can’t seem to cure. But if you start a conversation with, ‘what’s your favourite colour?’, honey I might melt down entirely and Britney ’07 it.

But enough about my tragic dating life – or lack thereof.

Aleja says she is moving away from precision, and loosening up into more textural techniques. As a fan of getting loose I know precisely what she’s talking about, but although I’ve made my second trip to the complimentary booze bar – I’m not quite there yet.

However I do loose myself in the overwhelming energy of the Brisbane art scene.

I meet a girl with fake freckles, a man who just started a band and someone I used to go clubbing with – back in the seedy fresh 18 era, so of course I don’t remember.

And in each interaction is an intimate moment of our own; a connection caught in time of two people passing by.

Intimate Moments is a true testament to the technical talent behind the artist Aleja Hine, and I keenly look forward to a mirage more of her moments.

For More: ‘A Night At Zaide’s Solo Show’