SPACE 2: ALISON MCLEOD
Exhibition dates. 2 - 13 March, 2022
Opening Reception : Thur 3 March 2022, 6:00 - 8.30pm.
Powerful Iguana Zoot
Alison McLeod is a Canadian artist currently residing in Naarm (Melbourne). Working with traditional media of gouache and ink Alison seeks to unite chaos and clarity. Her recent body of work explores ideas of alienation, isolation and confusion through the use of hand drawn patterns and colour. Powerful Iguana Zoot is a reflection of the artist’s last five years, culminating with 2022, and provides a rare glimpse into the artist’s intensely private practice. She has been working with folded paper forms and printmaking techniques to add other layers of complexity to her already intricate work. The work serves as both a gentle meditation and a surrender to nihilistic oblivion. The work invites viewers to take their time and discover that all is not as it seems.
Exhibition view
Interview with The Artist: Alison McLeod
1. How does your work relate to themes of isolation and confusion?
I relate to ideas of confusion and isolation as I began this body of work when I had just moved back to a small town in Canada, where I was very lonely. It concluded a few years into 2020- and we all know how that went! I love working in a meditative way, with lots of repetition, which makes the process a solo endeavour by necessity. My work tends to be confronting upon first glance, with nowhere for the eye to rest and saturated with complicated patterns. But I love the idea that, given enough time, the viewer can sit with the pieces and really figure out how all the patterns and colours speak to each other.
The language of the works comes forward and the confronting nature of the paintings gives way to a new sense of understanding and calm within. I hope my works can take the audience into an uncomfortable, introspective space and eventually leave them with a renewed sense of peace. That’s what they do for me!
2. Can you explain your creative process, are the designs created intuitively or is there prior planning?
My work is very intuitive. I start with a base shape, usually in the centre, and build it out from there in one shot. I like to think in fractals by manipulating this base shape into other shapes/patterns for the piece. Not a lot of planning involved! I’ll pencil in a few parts, paint them up, repeat. I don’t do full sketches or have an image of a finished piece in my mind. It’s always a bit scary when I get to the folding part because I don’t do test pieces! It’s a magical one shot deal.
Q & Photography : BLACKCAT GALLERY & Isabella Imperatore