Of the Chamber

--Alice Bray

the arch and two shadows 2021,

acrylic, dry pastel, and wood,

720x500mm. (framed)

sink in sink down 2021,

acrylic, dry pastel and graphite on canvas,

720x500mm. (framed)

(left) down to earth as leaves 2021,

acrylic, dry pastel and graphite on wood,

250x300mm


(right) silent swoop 2021,

acrylic, dry pastel and graphite on wood

250x300mm.

slow as lava 2021,

acrylic, dry pastel and graphite on wood,

250x300mm.

snake talk 2021,

acrylic, dry pastel and graphite on wood,

250x300mm.

red moon 2021,

acrylic, dry pastel and graphite on wood,

250x300mm.

A chamber can be a myriad of things. It might be physical- an enclosed space where one goes to retreat, or immaterial- an imagined space which exists in the mind. ‘Of the Chamber’ comes from a line in “If Not, Winter”; Anne Carson’s translation of the written poetry left in fragments by the ancient Greek poet Sappho. These fragments offer richness in what is lost; a number of remnants which hundreds of years later left clues to somebody’s way of thinking. This creates a fascinating form of mystery which can also be communicated in painting- I think of artists like Hilma af Klint and Etel Adnan. It is this kind of poetic rendering which invites feelings of dreamy psychology and loose spirit; a flowing in and out of forms and ways of thinking. The paintings in ‘Of the Chamber’ distill and interrogate geographies of dream and memory with emphasis towards the ever-changing mood and colours of experience- remnants of movement in a world that wants us to be fixed.



-Alice Bray

(left) angel above the folly 2021,

acrylic, dry pastel and graphite on wood,

300x250mm.

(right) messenger of spring 2021,

acrylic, dry pastel and graphite on wood,

300x250mm.