Alison Denyer - Artist Statement

Painting, Drawing and the integration of drawn elements in mixed media works have become the primary focus of my work. My inspiration often stems from my physical and social surroundings. I continually push my work by utilizing a variety of media, ultimately looking for new and effective ways to visually express my ideas. I typically choose to work in series of four or five separate pieces each becoming the next step of my visual investigation of an idea.

I am currently working on a body of works based on visual and cultural observations during my recent travels through China. Using encaustic painting techniques combined with drawn elements, my aim is to create a new body of work, which captures the atmosphere of the Chinese landscape and culture.
My portrait drawings represent my interest in the intricate detail, structure and individuality of the human head. Each graphite portrait includes a floating visual clue to the individual’s personality, presenting the viewer with an accurate representation that is perceived as much more than skin deep.

In working from plant forms, my focus has been on root and stalk structures of plants, showing their complexity and intricacy. I’m fascinated in how many uncultivated plants can become naturally established under the harshest of growing conditions. In these works, suspended structures meander their way through space, or simply float. The view presented is that of being underwater or beneath undergrowth as these plants block out much of the light.

By depicting these ‘vagrant’ plant forms, my intention is to show that no two are exactly alike, each following its own growth pattern dictated by the environment. Each drawing therefore, becomes an involved study. Together, these pieces can be viewed as a detailed investigation into like complex forms suspended in time.

Natural references have been a reoccurring subject in many of my drawings, paintings and installation pieces over the past ten years. In the ‘Gourd Study Series’ works, I was interested in depicting beauty through simplicity of form in a series of graphite observation drawings. In particular, I was visually drawn to the gourd’s shape and surface texture, each being a perfect form in its own right yet very different from the next. My intention was to show similarities as well as differences. Not only are the subtle complexities of surface texture shown, but also certain stillness in the composition. Each drawing therefore becomes an involved study and together, the works are viewed as a detailed visual investigation.

The purposes of depicting plant forms throughout history have of course been many. From cataloguing plants to the elaborate seventeenth century Dutch floral still lives the visual interpretation of plant forms is a subject that intrigues me. My personal research has lead me to the study of botanical illustrations and their significance at the time of production. In older examples, the quality of these works appears simple, yet each page is a powerful representation in it’s subject. It is this quality that I strive to achieve in my own work.