about
Alyssa Khalifa (b. 1996, Michigan) obtained her BFA in painting and sculpture from Aquinas College (Grand Rapids, MI) in 2019 and MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA) in 2022. Her figurative work establishes multicultural and queer representation from an identity-based lens and gaze.
During her undergrad, she traveled to Paris and London for two separate classes to pursue interests in both art history and studio art. In addition, she presented a research paper at the Undergraduate Art History Symposium in 2017. Scholarships and grants earned include the Hilda E. Bretzlaff 2018, Hazel Scholarship Prize 2021, and Fine Art Venture Fund 2022. She has exhibited in shows both in Michigan and Philadelphia and has over five years of teaching experience. Khalifa taught painting and ceramics to people with disabilities at the non-profit Artists Creating Together and had two graduate teaching assistantships during graduate school. Currently, she teaches 7th-12th mixed media art in Philadelphia, PA.
statement
As a painter and sculptor, I contemplate feelings of intimacy stemming from cultural differences, love, and longing. Using acrylic and oil paint, plaster, and mixed media, bodies are described through painterly juxtapositions of raw expressionism, and well-observed, tender figuration. Highly saturated atmospheric colors envelop subjects in both domestic interiors as well as outdoor urban spaces. Elements such as the inclusion of Arabic text, or symbols like the Egyptian lily, allude to different facets of my identity. Figurative sculptures drawing from Western motifs, like ‘the kiss’, are composed of plaster and mixed materials. The surface of the sculpted bodies mimics the texture and materiality seen in the paintings. Bulky bodies smothered in encrusted materials bring forth tension between the soft bodies in the paintings and their physical manifestations.
Although the work ranges from a lone figure in solitude to impassioned moments with a partner, they all encompass the theme of vulnerability. Intimate moments invite the viewer in, but the felt love, or alternatively, vulnerable solitude, leaves one contemplating: am I meant to keep looking?