The Artist: Ayla El Moussa
Ayla El Moussa is a crypto artist, illustrator, painter and glitch experimentor, celebrated for her ethereal and evocative imagery.
The viewer is often kept at a manageable distance, in a symbolic way that one might feel attempting to get under the skin of a Cy Twombly work. The curves of the female form in ‘Mirror Mirror’ are obvious yet any connection with the turned away central subject remain elusive. Her fixation is instead with the undulating waves; a continuing thematic across collections.
'When I no longer see myself in the art, I know it's done."
The Collection: "Nude Pixels"
August 2021
Nude Pixels entered the NFT arena as a ‘pinup girl at a distance’ during the height of the 2021 NFT boom. The 42 posed forms are superimposed and centered on a neutral skin toned background, again keeping the viewer at arms length.
"The closer you look, the less you see."
A Specific Artwork: "Scene 1"
Evoking the carved marble statues from Medici times, ‘Scene 1’ from The Painted Muse collection is a hand painted study in light and form. The viewer must again wrestle with the occlusion of the entire form through the zoomed in framing. The cloistering of the sodden fabric on the skin is also felt by the viewer.
Through the lens, the pixels and the paintbrush we get a glimpse of ‘Her’ and the mystery unfolding. Can we be trusted to fill the entire picture ourselves or does each vignette reveal a depth unattainable to most? Either way, a celebration of the feminine is the overflowing cup of divinity that Ayla’s work continually draws from.