“Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”, 2019, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 162 x 130 cm
Detail of ”Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”
Detail of “Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”
I am fascinated by how we find different versions of Delftware and other blue and white ceramic traditions in several parts of the world: originating in China and Persia, but also in Mexico, England, Holland, Portugal, Spain and Brazil. Imitating in trompe l’oeil many such original tiles, I also use them as a departure point for my own imaginary ones, bringing imagery from other sources. The resulting works represent tiled walls, figures, (some with speech bubbles), reflecting, across time and across cultures, a dialogue between women, their shared creativity and historical legacy. I use this series to claim a kind of matrilineage, paying homage to women I find inspiring, as well as placing emphasis on ceramics not only as a craft but as high art. The heavily textured ‘gold’ frames and outlines express not only a celebratory theatricality, but also, metaphorically, the notion of reparation, as in the Japanese Kintsugi, where broken ceramics are mended with gold junctions.
Detail of “Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere”
The French government's Centre des Monuments Nationaux invited Alicia Paz to exhibit her works at the Château de Haroué, a jewel of 18th century architecture within the region of Lorraine, which has been owned by the Beauvau-Craon family for eight generations. The exhibition, curated by Bénédicte Delay, brings together works from different periods as well as new pieces, partially inspired by the collections and also by the remarkable life of Princess Minnie de Beauvau-Craon, who passed away in May 2023. Her international roots, her links with Latin-American culture, her taste for travel, and her courage in her fight to save the castle, were all sources of inspiration for Alicia Paz, who wishes to pay tribute to her.
The colour blue, as well as themes of water and travel are omnipresent; water is explored as a metaphor not only for the fluidity of identity but also to evoke the perpetual movement and connection between women around the world. “My use of blue, my representation of boats and waves in some of my works, and even my representations of female pirates (...) are a way for me to pay homage to courageous and creative explorations of the self, which are also deep and vast as the ocean!" (Alicia Paz)
Salon Louis XVIII, château de Haroué, Lorraine, France
The different elements of Marines I and II (2024) were made during two residencies abroad and assembled in my London studio. The fragments are like waves, overlapping one another with strips of golden rococo foam-like forms, and bearing representations of azulejos from a different regions of the world, as well as references to the sea. I use water as a metaphor not only for the fluidity of identity but also to evoke constant movement and connection.
The mermaids, hybrids of animal and human, emerge more and more as a feminist symbol of otherworldly autonomy, strange and sometimes frightening... I am interested in connecting the human figure with animals or with plants, especially in this time of climate change crisis.
Installation of 28 enamel on steel pieces featuring boats and waves, as well as 6 mixed media cutout wood silhouette figures, wall-mounted, dimensions variable.
Detail of "Waves" installation
This installation features a horizon line populated by various ships and sea vessels, and evokes imaginary time-travel across multiple cultures and places, as a journey of self-discovery and a search for identity. The cutout figures on the wall represent hybrid creatures such as harpies, believed to personify stormy winds. In this sense, the installation is also about emotional turmoil linked to inner life, like in Virginia Woolf's novel The Waves.
Juntas (Together), 2020, group of small format portraits, dimensions variable, oil and mixed media on canvas (ongoing series). The portraits are meant to constitue a reflection on the construction of identity, as a metaphorical self-portrait or personal “family tree”, representing women thinkers, writers, artists, and also cherished friends and family members who have inspired, influenced, and/or helped me over the years. I hope to claim a kind of matrilineage and sisterhood through this series, combining History (with a capital “H”) with personal narrative. I wish to humbly pay hommage to remarkable women, as a continuing, fluid, and growing ensemble of works. In this particular image, we see portraits of Mary Wollstonecraft, Anna Julia Cooper, Mary Shelley, Gabrielle Suchon, Sonia Delaunay, Olympe de Gouges, Harriet Taylor Mill, Angelina Grimké, Simone de Beauvoir, Ana Mendieta, and Germaine de Staël.
This series was presented in a solo exhibition at the Maison de l’Amérique latine in Paris in 2022, co-curated by Julie Crenn and Lassla Esquivel. The exhibit was supported by Fluxus Art Projects, Arts Council England, and Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris. A catalogue launch and various artist talks were held during the period of the show, also at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Paris.
Curated by Julie Crenn and Lassla Esquivel, accompagnied by a 52-page colour catalogue designed by Fraser Muggeridge studio
To accompany the exhibition, a 52-page catalogue was published, with an essay by Julie Crenn and an interview with Lassla Esquivel. Texts are in English and French. The publication was designed by Fraser Muggeridge Studio.
Pirates and Poets I, 2021, 190 x 130 cm, mixed media on canvas. Here, the silhouette of a female figure on the left holds up her hand to listen carefully to the multitude of voices she can hear, coming from many directions. Extraordinary poets such as Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath, iconic Blues singers such as Nina Simone and Billie Holiday, as well strange, mythological creatures, all “speak”, or are themselves spoken about. These artists intermingle across the canvas with historical female pirate figures such as Ching Shih, Mary Read, and Anne Bonny. Poetry, as an audacious, free exploration of the self, is akin to the brave and daring transgression of female piracy. So too, the depths of the human soul are as dark and mysterious as an ocean. Dickinson devoted at least 96 of her poems to images directly associated with the sea, to themes such as drowning, the tides, and the confrontation between sailors and their environments. Elsewhere in the painting, the recurring depiction of tulips refers to Sylvia Plath’s darkly metaphorical poem by the same name.
Pirates and Poets I (detail 2)
I am fascinated by stories of shared creativity. Aretha Franklin covered some songs by Carole King, who in turn was partially influenced by Gospel music. Here, the speech bubbles represent the intertwining of creative authorship.
Pirates and Poets I (detail)
Octavia, 2021, mixed media on canvas, 190 x 170 cm
“Coordinates”, 2021, mixed media on canvas, 170 x 210 cm.
And We, 2021, oil and mixed media on canvas, 162 x 130 cm
In this work, scientists Melanie Klein and Chien-Shiung Wu, literary authors Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir and Willa Cather, blues singer Irma Thomas and political activist Emilia Casanova, all ‘converse’ together. Their dialogue is intertwined with excerpts of the radical RIOT GRRL Manifesto text by Kathleen Hannah, of the feminist punk rock band Bikini Kill.
And We (detail)
And We (detail 1)
And We (detail 4)
And We (detail 2)
And We (detail 3)
Installation view of solo show at Blyth Gallery, Imperial College, London
Dancing Walls, Witches' Night, 2016, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 200x160 cm
Dancing Walls, Witches' Night, (detail)
In this series, multi-faceted representations of jubilant “walls” allow for an exploration of identity as an interweaving of narratives. In the context of 18th century grotesque ornamentation, several of these paintings playfully consider the decorative also as a vehicle for social satire and caricature. In consultation with Ceramics Curator Terry Bloxham, I have studied the iconography of Delftware tiles in the V&A Museum collection, as a departure point for my own imaginary tiles. The resulting large works represent tiled walls and figures, reflecting on themes of “wall-painting as ruin”, and “wall as mask, or as figure”. The painted trompe l’oeil depiction of tiles allows for an exploration of image-as-grid, incorporating interruptions and fragmentations, because tiles, in so far as they can appear damaged, replaced, restored, can be imperfect representations. It is that mix of functionality, decoration, and imperfection in portrayal that interests me.
Dancing Walls, Witches' Night, (detail)
Laughing Wall, Wailing Wall, 2020, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 210x170 cm
Laughing Wall, Wailing Wall, (detail)
Laughing Wall, Wailing Wall, (detail)
Mirror, Mirror, Laughing Wall, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 210x170 cm
Mirror, Mirror, Laughing Wall, (detail)
Mirror, Mirror, Laughing Wall, (detail)
Installation view of solo show at Blyth Gallery, Imperial College, London
“Tears of Laughter” 2020, Oil and mixed media on canvas, 210 x 170 cm
Detail of “Tears of Laughter”