In this exhibition of lush collages, mixed-media artist and book illustrator, Judy Watson, illuminates strange landscapes and invites us to tease out the untold stories within.
Rampant jungles, dreamscapes and intergalactic frontiers are filled with overblown plants and creatures grown from a cornucopia of imagined genetic material. Small figures pursue their destinations or meet lovers, often seeming absurdly vulnerable to the appetites of their surroundings.
In this exhibition, the artist speaks first and it’s the images that begin the stories. You as the viewer are invited to step into unknown worlds with fresh eyes and become the author of unwritten narratives.
The title of the exhibition refers to the books of Joan Aiken, specifically the series known as the Wolves Chronicles. In these books, Aiken took the real history of England and bent it. To this she added grotesque villains, dastardly plots and wild adventures across landscapes and seascapes, all populated with a bevy of beasts both real and imagined. This leap from something resembling reality into something more like ‘bioabsurdity’ is what the artist hopes to achieve.
By inviting viewers to step into strange worlds and spin their own yarn, this exhibition unapologetically embodies literal escapism, but by trusting in the viewer’s innate human ability to create meaning and story, it also messages defiance against the thundering onrush of AI.
Image credit: Judy Watson, Rendezvous, 2020 digital collage combining hand-painted and drawn elements.
