Alicia Paz
New & Recent Paintings
28 April to 2 June 2007
Unit 2 Gallery
This exhibition was Alicia Paz’s first major solo exhibition in Britain. Drawing from various
art traditions and cultural references (including Abstract Expressionism, ancient Chinese painting, Art Brut,
comic books, cartoons and fashion magazines) Paz’s paintings at first glance appear as something of an
anarchy of appropriation. However, this apparent visual cacophony - characterised by the splurges and
splodges of paint, and an adept use of collage, texture and scale - belies a more discerning set of narratives
within her work.
In Paz’s ‘monsters’ series, images of women often garnered from fashion magazines are transformed into
robots, and various forms of amphibian life, inhabiting desolate landscapes and underwater worlds. Trees,
with all their cultural and mythological associations, are the focus of Paz’s recent paintings in which
fantastical characters and objects are fused to create a world that is as idyllic as it is outlandish. In another
new body of work presented in this exhibition, Paz evokes elements of Chinese scroll painting and
tableau vivant (‘living picture’) – the elaborate French tradition of silent and motionless theatre.
Born out of a labour intensive production process, Paz’s work playfully scrutinises the many languages
and traditions of painting. In doing so, her practice also reveals a wider fascination with cultural
iconography, history and identity.
Alicia Paz
New & Recent Paintings
28 April to 2 June 2007
Unit 2 Gallery
Text by Alison Green