Art seen by Laura Elliott
A common goal of painters is to use light and shading to create the illusion of a three-dimensional object on a flat two-dimensional surface. Ceramic artist Alice Rose turns that concept on its head, instead aiming to produce three-dimensional objects that appear to exist on a two-dimensional plane. Her "mirage vases" are a successful and intriguing experiment in pushing the boundaries of traditional pottery design. The perfectly solid rounded vessels are masterful little pieces of illusion: on first and even second glance, the eye would insist that it was looking at a cardboard cut-out. Circling the display, examining the interior of the vases and recognising their depth forces the brain to make connections beyond the initial visual appearance. The work is a playful demonstration of how easily our eyes can deceive us.
The pop art inspiration behind many of the vases adds to the sketch effect: a bright, almost too perfect crispness, like drawings from a comic book. Other designs appear to be a nod to 1970s retro, while the most appealing works incorporate the block colours and linear patterns of Art Deco and might have been cut from a Jazz Age advertisement. Rose's style is both clever and unique, approaching a traditional art form from, quite literally, an unfamiliar angle. The resulting collection is polished, effective and fun.
ODT newspaper 2014
A common goal of painters is to use light and shading to create the illusion of a three-dimensional object on a flat two-dimensional surface. Ceramic artist Alice Rose turns that concept on its head, instead aiming to produce three-dimensional objects that appear to exist on a two-dimensional plane. Her "mirage vases" are a successful and intriguing experiment in pushing the boundaries of traditional pottery design. The perfectly solid rounded vessels are masterful little pieces of illusion: on first and even second glance, the eye would insist that it was looking at a cardboard cut-out. Circling the display, examining the interior of the vases and recognising their depth forces the brain to make connections beyond the initial visual appearance. The work is a playful demonstration of how easily our eyes can deceive us.
The pop art inspiration behind many of the vases adds to the sketch effect: a bright, almost too perfect crispness, like drawings from a comic book. Other designs appear to be a nod to 1970s retro, while the most appealing works incorporate the block colours and linear patterns of Art Deco and might have been cut from a Jazz Age advertisement. Rose's style is both clever and unique, approaching a traditional art form from, quite literally, an unfamiliar angle. The resulting collection is polished, effective and fun.
ODT newspaper 2014