"Flowers"
Alison Blickle - Artist Statement
My work is about the intense intimacy we can feel with people we love, and how we sometimes place these people on pedestals, deny their flaws, and see them as perfect. Falling in love can also change the way we view ourselves, as we are suddenly seen as wonderful in the eyes of someone else. At the same time, our desire to be loved can make us attempt to present an idealized version of ourselves to others, whether it be to a lover, or to the world when you leave your house.
With these ideas in mind, my figures are shiny and beautiful, almost doll-like. My love for the people and relationships that I paint is sincere, and I want to paint them as beautifully as I experience them. The impossible loveliness of the world within the paintings adds a strange feeling of romanticism to the work. The glossy figures are alluring and glamorous, but also feel unbelievable, as they are too flawless to exist in reality. The push and pull between these two elements is a common thread throughout my work.
I keep the explicit narrative in my work to a minimum in order to focus more attention on the way in which the figures are painted. I’m concerned with color, composition, light, and space, and how I can use these elements to add content to my work.
Artist Statement about Newest Show
My most recent paintings depict imagined narratives involving idealized, unnatural women in natural outdoors environments. Even the natural world around them, however, is somewhat romanticized, with everything painted very neatly in saccharine, jewel-toned colors. The glossy, idealized figures evoke the images of people in magazines and movies- the generic beauty standards we see everywhere.
My intention is touch on issues of the artificial versus the natural. I’m interested in our struggle as humans to balance the wild, instinctual, animal part of ourselves with the part of us that wants and needs the confinements and restrictions of civilization, culture, and living in groups.
I believe we all have a love-hate relationship with group-imposed or self-imposed rules that govern our behavior. They serve us in some ways and some situations, and frustrate or anger us in others. They can make us feel manipulated and controlled, or empowered and safe. I’m intrigued with the point at which society’s rules become internalized to the extent that people assume they do certain things because they want to, not because they are taught to.
I like to fantasize about moving to the woods, getting out of cities and leaving rules and expectations behind. Being able to do whatever I want to do, to completely define my own identity, and to be free from the demands of society. In reality this would be impossible- I like too much about living in society, and I’d be scared to leave it behind. I wouldn’t even know how to physically survive. Also, social norms are so ingrained in me that I don’t know if it would be possible to separate myself from them.
Like many people, I tend to idealize “nature”, or the times when people lived closer to the Earth. I don’t think we often have a realistic concept of what that kind of life is like, and we see it in our mind through rose-colored glasses.
These ideas bring up many questions that I’m beginning to explore in my work: How free are we to determine our own identities? Is it possible to consciously consider the rules of one’s culture, and then to accept or reject them? Who imposes / enforces social norms? Do people try to live up to the expectations of society because they are told to or because they want to? At some point does there cease to be a difference? What kind of culture would be created if modern civilization were wiped out and a group of survivors had to start from scratch? How can we stay in touch with the wild parts of ourselves while living within the structure of a “civilized” way of life?
Alison Blickle