Alexandra Karakashian builds a world where liquid material replaces composition.
Engine oil migrates through textile surfaces, allowing gravity and absorption to generate form.
Salt interrupts this movement, creating resistance within the flow.
The surface functions as a membrane where material movement becomes visible.
The image emerges as a residue of saturation.
In conventional painting, the image is composed. Color and form are arranged on the surface to produce a predetermined result.
In Alexandra Karakashian’s work, the image forms differently. Liquid engine oil is introduced to a textile surface and allowed to migrate through the fibers. Gravity, absorption, and capillary movement determine how the material spreads across the cloth.
Salt interrupts this flow. Crystalline deposits slow or redirect the movement of oil, creating areas of resistance within the field of saturation.
The resulting image is not drawn or painted. It is the residue of a material event recorded by the surface.
1. Installation view: Alexandra Karakashian, unbecoming, SMAC Gallery, Johannesburg, 2017. Courtesy SMAC Gallery.
2. Alexandra Karakashian, Conditions Towards XII, 2019. Oil and salt on sized paper, 207 × 153 cm. © Alexandra Karakashian. Courtesy Sabrina Amrani.
3. Installation view: Alexandra Karakashian, Beneath the Broken Sun, Southern Guild, Los Angeles, 2024. Photo: Julian Calero. Courtesy Southern Guild.
4. Alexandra Karakashian, orphans of recent events, 2024. Canvas. Exhibition: Beneath the Broken Sun, Southern Guild, Los Angeles, September 13 – November 14, 2024. Courtesy Southern Guild.
5. Installation view: Alexandra Karakashian, unbecoming, SMAC Gallery, Johannesburg, July 6 – July 29, 2017. Courtesy SMAC Gallery.
6. Installation view: Alexandra Karakashian, Beneath the Broken Sun, Southern Guild, Los Angeles, September 13 – November 14, 2024. Canvas, used engine oil, black pigment, charcoal, salt, and oil paint. Photo: Julian Calero. Courtesy Southern Guild.
7. Installation view: Alexandra Karakashian, SPARK Art Fair Vienna, Sabrina Amrani, Vienna, March 25 – March 27, 2021. Left: Iris, 2021; Right: Flare I, 2021. Used engine oil and salt on canvas. Courtesy the artist and Sabrina Amrani.
8. Alexandra Karakashian, Conditions Towards XII, 2019. Oil and salt on sized paper, 207 × 153 cm. Courtesy Sabrina Amrani.
9. Alexandra Karakashian, Conditions Towards XII, 2019. Oil and salt on sized paper, 207 × 153 cm. Courtesy Sabrina Amrani.
10. Installation view: Alexandra Karakashian, A Rhythm for Falling, Sabrina Amrani, Madrid, May 23 – July 26, 2019. Used engine oil and salt on canvas. Courtesy Sabrina Amrani.
11. Alexandra Karakashian, lay, 2016. Used engine oil on canvas, 240 × 140 cm. Courtesy the artist and SMAC Gallery.
12. Alexandra Karakashian, Laid to Rest, 2020. Folded paintings, oil, paper, and rock, 30 × 30 × 15 cm. Courtesy Sabrina Amrani.
13. Alexandra Karakashian, Close to Hand II, 2017. Used engine oil and traditional oil paint on paper, 96 × 73 cm. Courtesy SMAC Gallery.
14. Alexandra Karakashian, Close to Hand I, 2017. Used engine oil and traditional oil paint on paper, 96 × 73 cm. Courtesy SMAC Gallery.
15. Alexandra Karakashian, Thoughts on Falling XXI–XL, 2019. Oil on sized paper, 139 × 141 cm. Courtesy Sabrina Amrani.
16. Alexandra Karakashian, In on Itself, 2020. Layered paintings, oil on paper and wood, 260 × 120 cm. Courtesy Sabrina Amrani.
Cover: Installation view: Alexandra Karakashian, Beneath the Broken Sun, Southern Guild, Los Angeles, 2024. Photo: Julian Calero. Courtesy Southern Guild.
Portrait: Alexandra Karakashian. Photo courtesy Geena Wilkinson.
