ALICE ATTIE

That repetition is a leitmotif for Attie is noticeable only on closer inspection of her work. At first, when we look at these sheets of paper, we notice they are completely covered in linear structures, like a fine mesh laid on the paper’s surface, letting irregular areas of density create a sense of movement, a sense of vivacity. Seen from up close, these works reveal many interconnected, tiny symbols and forms that make up a whole. Attie’s repetitive gestures line up next to each other, interweaving and overlapping. In this formation, they unfold narratives with varying degrees of legibility, depending on our perspective.

An example of this is the series Vibrations in which Attie precisely draws delicate lines in upward and downward movements to create waves that travel horizontally across the paper. The result is a structure of irregular lines that, from a distance, appear to create a unity charged with tension, dynamic, and rhythm. Attie creates the experience of an absolute presence that captivates us. The artist regards these drawings as the product of working with and through music (often Beethoven’s string quartets), which accompanies her art’s creation. ‘I think of these drawing compositions as extensions of the sounds I hear, the extraordinary vibrations, lyric and wavelike.’

Densities, on the other hand, is characterised by strongly gestural lines that have been applied without leaving a noticeable trace. By twisting and turning the pen, she creates thick, black fields of ink in places with varying degrees of opacity and depth. Attie, who has published several volumes of poetry, embraces calligraphic features in these abstractions and is lured by the thin boundary that distinguishes writing from drawing. She combines both in the work Waves of Thought by using words. Fragmented, these thoughts or notions are brought together to form dense paths. The words can be read up close, while from afar, they blend together into one abstract composition.

Gestures of repetition and traces of time become condensed in Attie’s works: ‘These marks accumulate over long periods of time and are often about time itself, time and repetition, both impossible to define, both moving indiscernibly before our eyes.’