Ochi Projects is pleased to present Polleō Alluve, a project by Karolina Maszkiewicz on view from April 23^rd through May 7^th with an opening reception Saturday, April 23^rd from 4-7pm.

In the first floor gallery space Karolina Maszkiewicz will present several installations, each comprised of plants and flowers that together create an ever-changing, live environment, a garden of sorts, which she hopes visitors will experience and enjoy over the course of the exhibition. Alongside large-scale sculptures hanging from the ceiling and stacked on the ground, Maszkiewicz also created a series of faucets with upside-down flowers pouring out and landing in piles of pollen on the floor. Though these installations are awash with metaphor and meaning, Maszkiewicz focuses on them to investigate life, death, rebirth and the more tenuous side of human’s relationship with nature. These are concepts artists have explored throughout time, but Maszkiewicz looks at them at this specific moment in history. As a Los Angeles-based artist, working in the era of celebrity, social media, and during a historic drought, Maszkiewicz’ sculptures and temporary installations take on a profound sense of both celebration and melancholy within the context of the urban jungle. In a two week period, Maszkiewicz’ installations will dry, wilt and die, a kind of microscopic and in-fast-forward analogy to our own life trajectory. Maszkiewicz’ intent is not to be morose, rather, she uses the flowers as a symbol to represent our basic human instinct that strives for beauty, no matter the impermanence.

Upstairs, Maszkiewicz presents an installation of her Divining Rods and Kinetic Sculptures. Just as dowsing devices are believed to find ground water, Divining Rods are energy surveyors that form a connection between the seeker and their object of desire. The viewer’s energy moves the rod towards what he or she instinctively needs; be it love, affection or inspiration.

*ALLERGY NOTE this exhibition contains live flowers, insects and pollen.

Photos by Michael Underwood