My studio this week was saturated with mutual delightful buoyant laughter, while connecting and sharing my art with globe-trotting, Alexis McBride. Alexis is the author of In Contemplation and in Conversation Companionship at the Tate Britain. A book validating the importance of original visual art to be made accessible to the public at large. I was honoured! Alexis’s own additional daily BLOGS about her travels and life experiences, are interesting, funny and encouraging. She illustrates poignantly in her own words, that in conversations with each other, strangers and colleagues, we all find aspects of our own journeys, on and in, this continuum of time we spend on Earth. Alexis is pictured in front of my original painting The Girl Who Came To Play exploring the inevitability of the cycle of life and the necessary skin suits of time, we cannot escape.
A self-made, financially independent, retired California lawyer, Alexis is an accomplished academic and is not afraid to speak her mind in her BLOGS. She has amassed an impressive international following, who clearly relish her humour and forthrightness.
At the age of 71, when most people are choosing to slow down, Alexis put her foot on the accelerator of her life and left California to forge a new life in London, England, and even enrolled in university! Her trajectory unfortunately placed her within a maelstrom of unexpected problems. Alexis recalls that, “The amazing thing is, out of all that muck, beauty emerged like a phoenix rising from the ashes. The book began at one of the most darkest moments of my life. It was conceived as a means to rescue me from the darkness.” Embodied with an intense hunger to create and write, Alexis envisioned a book based on her internal experiences of the artworks in the Tate collection. Inviting the poet, Jessica Phibbs, to contribute her experiences of the artworks via poetry, Alexis masterminded a collaborative effort which gives an additional perspective of the visceral interaction between viewer and the artwork. What I like about this format, is that the book is indeed a good companion guide, as a foundation for anyone, academic or novice, to visit and navigate with ease, the labyrinth of the Tate Britain, without being overwhelmed as where to begin? The book traces selected artworks in the Permanent Collection, where from each gallery, one painting was picked. Alexis then wrote a prose in response to the painting and Jessica wrote a poem. Beginning with the painting A Study in Blue and Grey, Sydney Starr, 1891, and ending with Portrait of a Woman in Red, Marcus Gheeraerts ll, 1561 - 1562.
I found the book a compelling read, a wonderful window into what transpires between the artwork and the viewer. Their own personal experience of the artwork. I was so humbled and moved beyond words, as a living artist, to hear how Alexis and Jessica, connected differently, with the paintings in the Tate collection. It is all an artist can ever hope for, is that a single viewer at some time, will be moved in their soul to feel and identify with their artwork. In Contemplation and in Conversation Companionship at the Tate Britain is the ultimate compliment given to all of us visual artists, who simply must create to breathe. Moreover, it is deeply spiritually satisfying and validating to hear first-hand, that visual art and the personal activity of creating, herein writing, held Alexis’s hand in her seventies, as she courageously walked her own journey to health. Thus, the entire backstory of the book is absolutely a story OPRAH needs to hear! I am sure Oprah may also be deeply moved by the power of art and creativity to heal, and embolden our inner core, irrespective of whether we are in our youth or elder years. Alexis, you are an inspiration.
As an artist I am compelled to create certain artworks, never knowing who will identify with each piece. It was extremely interesting to me when Alexis chose to stand beside The Girl Who Came To Play as it was only when I saw them both side by side, did I realise that I had indeed captured the essence of Alexis’s ever-present youthful spirit, and an uncanny physical resemblance to her youthful skin suit of time. Which made me think of the words of Asher Edelman, New York Investor and Art Collector, in his article “Stars Rise, Stars Set” pertaining to the current art market today 2018, where he advises collectors, “Recognition by price is always short-lived. For success, look at the art, not the price.” From the palette of my soul, I thank you Alexis for taking the time to sit, listen, and intrinsically LOOK at the art, connecting with the artists of yesteryear and of today. In the endless tapestry of creative time, to have connected with another heart, is the magical realm of existence that defies ordinary time.