Loop 238

Olga Balema

BornNationalityBased In
1984Ukrainian/BritishNew York City
Biography

Olga Balema’s artworks are an investigation of form. They are characterised by a tense relationship and contrasts in materiality, often comprising a hard framework with soft, fragile innards. Balema frequently employs latex which, especially in Bread for Life (2016), is held taut and barbed by jagged steel rods, or perhaps armatures, recalling Eva Hesse’s postminimalist practice and the slow sagging of the material over time. The notion of tension – perhaps most commonly, representations of the contrast between the hard bones of a human skeleton and the flesh that furnishes it – are further echoed in the rubber bands and shoelaces plotting a geometry across the gallery floor in brain damage (2019), the teetering globules of latex, moulded to look like breasts, protruding from the globe in 2016’s Globe, tacked on unsteadily, and the soft PVC sacks filled with steel rods and water, ready to burst, in Threat to Civilization 2 (2015). ...

Selected Artworks
Gut feeling III
Untitled
Olga Balema
Untitled, 2014
38 x 70 x 32cm
Wild possession
Olga Balema
Wild possession, 2015
36 x 154 x 18cm
Untitled
Olga Balema
Untitled, 2013
⌀60cm
Computer
Olga Balema
Computer, 2021
42500 x 1000cm
Serious topics
Olga Balema
Serious topics, 2015
112 x 58 x 54cm
Threat to Civilization 2
Olga Balema
Threat to Civilization 2, 2015
47 x 99 x 94cm
Threat to Civilization 1
Olga Balema
Threat to Civilization 1, 2015
30 x 82 x 180cm
Analysis penetrates the surface
Olga Balema
Analysis penetrates the surface, 2015
37 x 120 x 20cm
Latest scientific research
Olga Balema
Latest scientific research, 2015
42 x 105 x 78cm
Interior Biomorphic Attachment (5)
Olga Balema
Interior Biomorphic Attachment (5), 2014
61 x 370.8 x 30.5cm
Interior Biomorphic Attachment
Olga Balema
Interior Biomorphic Attachment, 2016
160 x 30 x 40cm
Interior Biomorphic Attachment
Olga Balema
Interior Biomorphic Attachment, 2016
80 x 102 x 40cm
Globe
Olga Balema
Globe, 2016
96.5 x 61 x 51cm
Everybody and their mother
Olga Balema
Everybody and their mother, 2016
135 x 152 x 15cm
Vorn der vorgeschichtlichen Zeit bis zum ende der Völkerwanderung
Olga Balema
Vorn der vorgeschichtlichen Zeit bis zum ende der Völkerwanderung, 2016
90 x 160cm
Our America Spread of Western Civilization
Olga Balema
Our America Spread of Western Civilization, 2016
220 x 100cm
Motherfucker
Olga Balema
Motherfucker, 2016
73 x 110 x 12cm
the gift of tears
Olga Balema
the gift of tears, 2017
60 x 60 x 30cm
Appetite
Olga Balema
Appetite, 2017
90 x 50 x 30cm
Floor
Olga Balema
Floor, 2019
76 x 152 x 177cm
Leaf
Olga Balema
Leaf, 2019
43 x 111 x 58cm
Threat to Civilization 2
Olga Balema
Threat to Civilization 2, 2015
48 x 100 x 95cm
Loop 238
Olga Balema
Loop 238, 2025
50 x 38 x 49cm
Loop 234
Olga Balema
Loop 234, 2025
80 x 20 x 25cm
Awards
Guggenheim Fellowship for Fine Arts2023
Guggenheim Fellowship for Fine Arts2023
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