Aljoscha

In a highly scientific practice across a wide array of media, Ukrainian artist Aljoscha (b. Aleksey Potupin, 1974) focuses on “bioism,” an attempt to create and explore new forms of life for an organic future. A student of Konrad Klapheck and Shirin Neshat, Aljoscha works with sculpture, painting, drawing and photography to explore aesthetics of the future.

Sonya Gallery presents four unique sculptures made from acrylic glass, intricately sculpted “bioisms” which represent what the artist sees as a visual expression of the possibilities of synthetic biology. The works were produced for Project Hope (2022-present), Aljoscha’s ongoing mission to deliver his sculptures to schools and hospitals throughout Ukraine’s active war zones and provide glimmers of hope to those who need them. The project represents Aljoscha’s 62nd “b-meeting,” a series of interventions between the bioisms and the natural world the artist began in 2009 and documents through his photographic practice.

Aljoscha’s work has been exhibited widely across the world, including in recent solo gallery shows at Priska Pasquer in Paris and Cologne, La Bibi Gallery in Madrid, Beck & Eggeling in Vienna and Düsseldorf, and in recent public installations at the Times Art Museum in China, St. John the Divine in New York, the Goethe Museum in Düsseldorf, and the Osthaus Museum in Hagen. Aljoscha was the subject of a solo special presentation at Intersect Aspen in 2023 with Sonya Gallery, and at TEFAF New York in 2019 with Beck & Eggeling. He lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.