Painting (MA)
Alexis Lee
Education:
Coincidentia Oppositorum:
a state in which contradictory essences co-exist in a human reality. In essence, it describes the ancestral mind in which belief and reality do not negate one another, but enhance the experience of living.
These unprecedented times plunge us into realms of the unknown, beckoning us away from reason and light. As we fall into this gap of human understanding, we witness the destructive energies that dwell in the unconscious and fill us with despair and anger. But these disturbances also awaken profound and ancient abilities, buried in the collective unconscious- the universal sitting at the bottom of our psyche. Their ripples herald a primal return to symbols, storytelling and Coincidentia Oppositorum. Here, incandescent Chaos endeavors to reshape finite reality in darkness. Here, we begin to create landscapes for the monstrous thoughts that threaten to shatter our mortal frame, in worlds apart from ours- in myth.
This collection of work produced at the RCA reflects stages of the universal pattern in the monomyth Joseph Campbell called the Hero's Journey:
Departure - Divine Guidance - Crossing the Threshold - Trial - Transformation - Apotheosis - The Return
Aceso
Black Tears
Detail of 'Aceso'
Detail of 'Aceso'
Detail of 'Black Tears'
Detail of 'Black Tears'
Detail of 'The Leperd'
Cinema Triptych
The Leperd
The Cinema Triptych looks to film as a contemporary engine for mythology. It is a collection of memories from movies that use storytelling to subliminally transform performance into truth or fact. In time, the spectator creates individualized patterns in conversation with the visual narrative, enhanced by personal experience and imagination. This particular work focuses on illness and healing:
“The Leperd” is based on images of leprosy in cinema. The bearer imparts his disease through touch and has deformed extremities and facial features. He is the disease itself and is surrounded by foliage and a leopard inspired by medieval illuminations. Personally, it represents the first traumatic childhood memory from film; it embodies the infant association of leopards with the disease as well as its historic frame.
..
“Aceso” is the tapestry of cures. A body claimed by religion, insects, and needles, and medicines. Aceso was the Greek embodiment for the process of curing rather than a healer or panacea.
..
“Black Tears” tells the story of Plague. The Bird sits on the shoulder of illness. He is a harbinger, an omen, carrying the face of a plague mask worn by doctors during times of Bubonic plague.
“The Leperd” is based on images of leprosy in cinema. The bearer imparts his disease through touch and has deformed extremities and facial features. He is the disease itself and is surrounded by foliage and a leopard inspired by medieval illuminations. Personally, it represents the first traumatic childhood memory from film; it embodies the infant association of leopards with the disease as well as its historic frame.
..
“Aceso” is the tapestry of cures. A body claimed by religion, insects, and needles, and medicines. Aceso was the Greek embodiment for the process of curing rather than a healer or panacea.
..
“Black Tears” tells the story of Plague. The Bird sits on the shoulder of illness. He is a harbinger, an omen, carrying the face of a plague mask worn by doctors during times of Bubonic plague.
Medium:
Acrylic on BoardSize:
80 x 180 x 2 cm
Witnesses
Witnesses
Witnesses
Witnesses
Witnesses
Witnesses Detail
Faces pulled into consciousness remain frozen in their transition from formlessness to form. Freeing fingers and toes, pricking open ears and shaping crude spines, they witness the violence of their own making.
Medium:
ClaySize:
Varies
Encountering Mercurius
Mercurius-Against Light
Detail of Mercurius
The Mercurius Duplex is the vessel of opposites, the alchemical body of creative and destructive energies in constant motion.
Medium:
Acrylic and Oil Pastel on CanvasSize:
100 x 76 x 4 cm
The Shadow Whispers Secrets
The Shadow Whispers Secrets
Detail
Detail
Medium:
Acrylic on BoardSize:
80 x 60 cm
The Titan and the Sphinx
Detail
Apotheosis of the Titan and the Sphinx
Apotheosis of the Titan and the Sphinx
Apotheosis of the Titan and the Sphinx
The Titan is a symbol of earthly, brute strength and the chaos of nature at the beginning of creation. In Ancient Greece, they were the ancestral pantheon of gods. In Buddhist scriptures, they are Asuras constantly at war, marked by jealousy and overwhelming ambition; they represent states of consciousness.
The Sphinx is a monster, an oracle and a guardian. In its Egyptian and Greek iterations, it represents the destructive emptiness of absolute power and a gateway to another dimension.
The Sphinx is a monster, an oracle and a guardian. In its Egyptian and Greek iterations, it represents the destructive emptiness of absolute power and a gateway to another dimension.
Medium:
Embroidery, Acrylic, Oil, Watercolor and Paper on CanvasSize:
100 x 136 cm
Exaltation of a Named Theos
Detail
Exaltation of the Named Theos
Medium:
Acrylic on BoardSize:
80 x 60 x 2cm
TheBirdkeeper Detail 1
TheBirdkeeper Detail
Medium:
Acrylic and Pastel on LinenSize:
131 x 88 cm
Mother
The Minotaur
The Hunter
The Guardian
The Faer are iterations of chimeric fairies and divine animals. They represent a curious future, marked by a return to the ancestral practice of making symbols.
Fairies are referenced in many cultures. They were believed to be demoted angels, minor pagan deities, sprits of the dead or small imps and demons. In reference to the time and location of their stories, they were either blamed for maladies and misfortune or symbolic of good luck and supernatural aid.
Fairies are referenced in many cultures. They were believed to be demoted angels, minor pagan deities, sprits of the dead or small imps and demons. In reference to the time and location of their stories, they were either blamed for maladies and misfortune or symbolic of good luck and supernatural aid.
Medium:
Watercolor on PaperSize:
31x 23 cm
The Seer
Medium:
Acrylic and Pastel on BoardSize:
80 x 60 cm
Apophis returns the Cosmic Water
Detail
Detail
Detail
Apophis was a serpent and the chief embodiment of primordial chaos in Egyptian mythology. As this antagonistic entity, he was present in every access of darkness- the waning of the moon, the eclipse and most importantly, the onset and end of night. His primary goal was to hinder the god Ra on his daily journey of bringing the sun across the sky. In order for day to break, Apophis would have to die each day. Pierced by Ra and lesser gods, Apophis would release the cosmic waters allowing the heavenly boat to continue its path. Apophis would unwittingly transform daily into the conduit for light.
