Solaris
By Aneka Ingold
Mixed media on paper on Dibond, 2021
30 x 22 inches
$5,800
Aneka Ingold’s dramatically staged paintings present mysterious allegories informed by the stories and lives of women. Drawn from self-reflection and the shared experiences of peers and women throughout history, her narratives are relayed through symbols and patterns that culminate in a goddess-like figure. Ingold’s powerful characters, rendered in precise layers of colored pencil and paint, earned her the honor of being named the inaugural winner of The Bennett Prize® for Women Figurative Realist Painters in 2019.
Solaris is one of four companion paintings based on the Seasons. The name is derived from Latin and means “Of the Sun.” The halo motif, which appears frequently in Ingold’s paintings, here represents the rays of the sun. The contrast in the use of color between body and face symbolizes the separation of mind and body, of internal dialogues and physical existence. The needs of each inform the other, but they do not always work in harmony. The presence of the figure within a box is a mystery to be unraveled by the viewer, is she emerging from a place of security or isolation?
In 2015, Ingold was the Grand Prize Winner at the Vying show during Miami Art Basel, at Viophilia Gallery in Wynwood. She was awarded First Place by Juror Carrie Ann Baade at the Valdosta National All-Media Juried Competition at Dedo Maranville Fine Arts Gallery, Valdosta State University, Georgia in 2016. Other recent exhibitions include The Deep End at RJD Gallery in Romeo, MI; Strange Figurations at Limner Art Gallery, Hudson, NY; Immortality and Vulnerability at Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL; Women in Art at Las Laguna Art Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA; and the Surreal Salon 8 at Baton Rouge Center for Contemporary Art, presented by Juxtapoz magazine. Since winning the Bennett Prize, Ingold has interviewed with New York Undressed, American Art Collector, Mahattanarts.com, and Brenda Magazine.
You can find more information about the artist and her work at www.anekaingold.com or on Instagram @anekaingold.