Reeds Japan | Darebin Art Collection

Alice WORMALD

Registration Number	1113-1-1
Maker	Alice WORMALD
Type of Object	Painting
Tags	Accession
Medium	Oil on linen
Collection	Darebin Art Collection
Height	87.00cm
Width	87.00cm
When Made	2014

Public Description:

Alice Wormald creates paintings out of a compulsion to construct strange natural spaces where surface and depth, representation, abstraction, naturalism and converge. The works often develop through a process of image collection and collage with a focus on natural imagery such as rocks, plants and geological formations. These images are reconfigured to create a compelling encounter with depth, object and landscape. By accentuating and distorting formal elements such as composition and scale, the pictorial space is disrupted, demanding intense observation up close while simultaneously directing the viewer to make sense of the ‘landscape’ before them.

Alice Wormald is an artist based in Melbourne who has held multiple solo exhibitions in Melbourne and Sydney, most recently ‘Inversion Scenes’ (2017) at Daine Singer and ‘Offerings’ (2016) at Gallery 9, Sydney. Recent group exhibitions include ‘Gardening is not a Rational Act’ curated by Tai Snaith at c3 Contemporary Art Space, ‘Visiting Painting’ at Horsham Regional Art Gallery and ‘Imagined Worlds’ at the Hawthorn Town Hall Gallery. She has been a finalist in many prizes including the Geelong Contemporary Art Prize (2014) and the Darebin Art Prize (2016). Her work is held in numerous public and private collections.

Makers Statement:

The work that I make is created out of a compulsion to present strange spaces where surface and depth, representation and abstraction and naturalism and artifice converge. The layered pictorial elements disrupt the experience of illusionistic space, demanding intense observation up close while simultaneously directing the viewer to make sense of the “landscape” before them. This is suggestive not of the panorama, historically associated with an ideal, organised and understood nature, but of the occluded view, a secluded and sensual space where distance is concealed and danger lurks. The natural elements are not presented as pristine natural forms, but are instead cut, reassembled and carefully reconfigured to mimic the format of a landscape, exposing an unsettling hybrid which locates itself in the psychological rather than the physical and reflects upon the contested distinction between what is natural and what is real.