ALICE IN WONDERLAND IS 150 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR. CELEBRATE WITH MJ HODGE AT HER ALICE INSPIRED SOLO EXHIBITION THIS WEEKEND!
18TH-24TH APRIL
CONWAY HALL, LONDON
Here's today's guest blog from the wonderful artist and illustrator MJ Hodge. We're proud to have her as a Quint Collective member!
That
Alice Girl
I
do not think of myself as a self-portrait kind of a person and yet
many of my recent paintings have one small, fair-haired girl in
common: adventuring far, reaching towards the horizon and meditating
into unknown distances.
She
is not a specific character I set out to paint nor was she intended
to represent myself; in some cases she is most definitely not the
person I’d intended to paint. Which has made me query my painting
process from the initial spark of inspiration to the finished end:
trying to understand how my unconscious impulses combine with
instinctive intuition to subvert, high jack and otherwise override my
more conscious choices.
Usually
I am happy with the organic process of my work, allowing cumulative,
evolutionary surprises to catch me off guard as I ‘feel’ my way
towards each line, shape and colour as it is ‘best, now and in this
moment.’ In fact, until this moment I’ve cheerfully ignored any
self-analysis, but now I am curious:
If
I never intended to paint myself (I didn’t), and I never set out to
paint a narrative that carried the same character from series to
series (again, no), then who exactly have I been painting these last
many months?
I
have wandered many a musing path since asking this question, and in
the end I think I have an answer of sorts ...
She
can not be any specific girl, however she might just be a spirit girl
- full of possibility and wonder - just at that magical age when we
begin to explore the world with increased independence. More Jungian
than Brother’s Grimm, she crosses the glass threshold and brings us
with her.
Innocent
in some ways and wise in others, she is a reminder towards staying
curious and keeping our minds open. She is the very best part of the
time before dreams separated from reality. And while there have been
no rabbit holes or magic mirrors, in hindsight she is the perfect
guide to take us through a looking glass.
A
place where things are truest in their mirror reflection; where the
rules of perspective, laws of physiology and the focusing power of
shadows can be ignored; where worlds may be painted out of season,
landscapes out of place, and stories out of time. A dreamscape where
the stars touch the earth, waves caress the sky, solitude is company
and adventure beckons from both near and far horizons, even as you’re
standing still.
You
can call her Alice if you like.
After
all, she's gone through the looking glass and we are still standing
here.
creativeCroatia
-
bringing
contemporary Croatia to London in 2015
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