Hoochiecoochiebricolage-all that glitters
Sequins, pins, polystyrene, mirrors, straw, acrylic hair, aluminium cans
150x250x180cm
2010

Hoochiecoochiebricolage-all that glitters
Sequins, pins, polystyrene
220x130x120cm
2010

Ecstatic Grace
Plaster, wax, jesmonite
190x150x30cm
2011

Alberta Whittle

My work examines roles and representations of mysticism and rituals found throughout history, art and mythology. I mine a variety of sources, using mixed references and visual fragments to generate new variations of familiar objects. Failed selections of elements mish-mash together to create a distorted “likeness” of something recognizable. Museum collections of classical statuary and antiquities are transformed into relics, which transform into something akin to a souvenir. These are objects, which hint at an experience and sometimes implicate the viewer.

Symbols of empirical power and wealth become distorted in my assemblages. The inevitable decomposition of some elements vie with the indomitable indestructible nature of the plastics I deploy, coercing the audience to question methods of display, their emotional attachment to the sense of community which these emblems are imbued with.

My practice hopes to provoke the audience into making artistic judgements on taste. Shrines, altars and arrangements of objects emerge, expand and erode. The assumptions made about kitsch, where it has to transfigure into something purer and less vulgar to be considered art is a source of fascination.

Research plays a large role in my practice, where I derive visual references and ideas from film, literature, the internet, ethnographic museums and tourist attractions. The private and public rituals, which we enact and the possibility of generating our own myths is an endless source of fascination.