Alice Browne

WITH [tentacular] (2023), acrylic on canvas 215cm x 173cm

Alice Browne’s practice uses the flattened space of the canvas, paper or wall to explore frictions between the realms of the real and imagined. In her paintings, which she describes as a kind of ‘sci-fi still life’, objects and forms wrestle with forces of gravity, both real and imitated.

Using symbolic reference, she explores ritualistic thoughts and actions that incorporate hope, luck, wishing and promise which exist in a sticky place where imagination can blur with fact. Her subjects often touch on everyday themes of self-improvement, duality (eg. of above and below, hope and despair, rising and falling) and the use of natural materials for human advancement. The freedom and flexibility of paint allows for the incorporation of a breadth of ideas and influences taken from history, nature and popular culture. The martyrdom of St Sebastian, the removal of Edward Colston’s statue following BLM protests, Ghostbusters 2, the Hertford Union Canal and Roman settlement Vindolanda in Northumberland are some of the sources referenced in recent works.

Working in a way that starts with a challenge of scale or colour rather than plan or design, allows Browne to incorporate experiences and ideas in real time into the works. Ideas develop with each layer of paint, resulting in a rich visual experience which takes time to explore.

Alice Browne received her MA from Royal College of Art, London (2016) and her BA from Wimbledon College of Art, London (2009). She received the New Contemporaries Studio Bursary Award with Hospitalfield, Angus in 2017 and the Land Securities Bursary and Studio Award with Bow Arts in 2016. She is a mentor at Turps Art School (2018-present) and has been a visiting lecturer at a number of UK institutions including Winchester School of Art (2019), Camberwell College of Art (2016) and Glasgow School of Art (2015).

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Second Star to the Right, Galerie Liusa Wang, Paris (2022)

Camouflage, Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam (2019),

FOUND, Tintype Gallery, London (2019)

Forecast, Limoncello Gallery, London (2016)

struc////, OUTPOST, Norwich (2015)

Installation of Camouflage, Flatland Gallery (2019)

Installation of Camouflage, Flatlands Gallery (2019)

Time At Hogchester Arts

Residency period - 2023

I hadn’t previously met Ross (who I shared the residency with) however 4.5 hours in the car and a lunch stop in Aunt Fanny’s Cafe en route gave us plenty of time to get to know each other. We visited beaches, trudged through mud, hunted for fossils, drank local beers and watched supernatural and maritime themed movies. We talked a lot and spent evenings in the studio, mostly drawing. Chantal’s studio space is calm and inspiring. I took photographs on 35mm film (yet to be developed) and spent time reading in the warm cottage, after morning meetings with the goats.

I looked for encounters between technology and nature…rope fragments in fields and beaches and a small museum attached to a Catholic Church led me to explore the rope and net making history of Bridport at the local museum. Chantal told me about the old rubbish dump which slid into Charmouth Beach…so I went in search of technological waste washed up with the ammonites and rocks. I brought a mixture of items back to the studio and began drawing them, later incorporating them into paper works, mixed into a dislocated landscape of watercolour, gouache and marble dust. I had the opportunity to use the kiln to make a few small glazed ceramics. As a complete novice, I was fortunate to have Chantal’s patient guidance!

I’m still reflecting on my experience…the spiral symbol of the ammonites persists, seen in Lyme Regis lamp posts, in numerous fossil and crystal shops and scratched into the sandstone walls of Hell Lane. Mysticism mingled with prehistoric form, the energy of something we can never really know…mixing with something known but re-formed, once useful (now useless?). I felt at home amongst the fossil hunters, obsessively searching…picking between things that have washed up and bits that have crumbled down.