Exhibition
Memories, Dreams, Reflections - 54 The Gallery
54 The Gallery launches the first solo exhibition by London based artist, Alice Boyle, with over 30 new collage works.
Alice Boyle has chosen to concentrate on her artistic practice having co-directed, ‘The Graffiti Project’, on Kelburn Castle, studied Interior Architecture and worked in various art and design environments. Alice states, ‘I’m going from rules and regulations, to no limitations. I want to create atmospheric worlds with a surreal sensibility; that have no sense of real space, and are fragmented, sometimes disturbing but still beautiful and thoughtfully composed; the kind of world that one might remember being involved with as a child. I want to produce something strangely familiar yet eccentrically curious.’
Alice has always been fascinated with the layers of stories that make up the world and individuals, including myths and folklore, which she believes, are ingrained subconsciously in everybody’s psyche. ‘Why do we tend to feel comforted by ancient mythologies and fairytales, when the imagery and content are often horrific?
Alice believes that contrasting materials and mixing up media into highly layered and textured images heightens the senses and makes you subconsciously more in tune with your psyche. She is currently exploring the symbolism and power of dreams and the retreat from reality. Carl Gustav Jung once said that there were things in his dreams that came from somewhere beyond himself, ‘The Collective Unconscious’, which he claimed held the entire psychic heritage of mankind. Do we feel reassured by ancient tales because we are subconsciously tapping into the collective unconscious?
Aside from the commissioned pieces, Alice starts her pieces from a memory, a feeling or an idea from a dream. She lets the thought manifest itself, until she is confident for it to become a physical image. The picture develops organically, firmly retaining the original atmosphere and truth behind its idea and cathartic process. Alice permeates movement and rhythm in her work, creating vignettes of living fantasy worlds, which act as catalysts for the imagination.
Leaves or flowers are often sealed between layers of tissue paper within her work. ‘I like the idea of preserving something beautiful, which had life but is now in fact, dead. I want to make one think of ones own story and mortality. My work addresses the majesty of life, death, sorrow, joy and the darker elements which are soulful and enchanted nevertheless.’
