ALICE LANCASTER

INTERVIEW

PhotographED IN NEW YORK CITY
by Skye Parrott

IN THE MID-1950s, THE POPULAR RISE OF ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM DEFINED NEW YORK CITY AS THE CENTER OF THE WESTERN ART WORLD. THE MOVEMENT’S SPIRITUALLY DRIVEN SPONTANEITY AND REJECTION OF CONSERVATISM AND CLICHES SUPPLIED A DESPERATELY DESIRED ANTIDOTE TO THE LEAVE-IT-TO-BEAVER NORMS AND JOSEPH MCCARTHY WITCH-HUNTS THAT HAD INJECTED AMERICAN SOCIETY WITH A PUNGENT COCKTAIL OF ALIENATION AND PARANOIA. THE COUNTRY IS CURRENTLY SIPPING A SIMILARLY DISTASTEFUL BREW. STRONG ON DIVISIVE POLITICS AND MISPLACED NOSTALGIA, IT IS LIKEWISE STIRRING INSUBORDINATE TENDENCIES IN TODAY’S YOUNG ARTISTS, WHO LONG TO EVOLVE BEYOND TANGIBLE, OFTEN TRAGIC, REALITIES TO RESHAPE THE FUTURE.

In a literal sense, the movement’s inventive execution and impulsive aesthetic can be seen in Chinatown-based artist Alice Lancaster’s experimental works, which have captured the attention of the fashion and art worlds. The playful lines of Paul Klee, Henri Matisse’s minimal, sensuous curves and Pablo Picasso’s shattered-looking-glass depictions flirt with Egon Schiele’s twisted figures, Alice Neel’s intimate portraits and the urban urgency of the movement’s future students: Neo-Expressionists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Agnes Martins’ pulsating pastels, feminine and unflinching, also appear. But the mix is alchemic, rather than derivative. Alice routes her rebellion into mischievous and vibrant explorations of the female body, mind and sexuality that are provocative, fiercely original and very much of the present — an apt descriptor for the artist herself.