ABOUT THE ARTIST
Alexis Sones is a painter living and working in Austin, TX. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art at Pomona College. After experiencing a personal transformation in October 2018 when her vision spontaneously restored after 25 years of wearing corrective lenses, she shifted her artistic focus from the external world of nature scenes and portraits to the inner landscape of the imagination.
Working primarily with oil paint, and secondarily with gouache and acrylic, her touch is easily identifiable through fluid, snakelike paint strokes and noticeable absence of straight, hard edges. Her process follows a color logic, where she instinctively chooses colors and they take shape under her brush, leading to surprising outcomes that may spark an entire series.
Her paintings reflect an interest in elemental, primordial themes of creation myths across ancient cultures, and serve as both a personal evolutionary compass and a joyful meditation on the relationship between individual physiology and collective stories.
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Her work has been exhibited in Los Angeles and Austin.
ABOUT THE WORK
The latin phrase, solve et coagula, which translates to “dissolve and coagulate” refers to an alchemical process of the transformation of the soul, where we “dissolve” by first separating elements of ourselves in order to reform and coagulate into something more true. In my new series, “Become,” I explore the process of these separated, disparate parts, all in relationship to each other and within one body, seeing each other for the first time and re-membering themselves into a new being. My “Dissolve” series, which precedes “Become,” explores the dissolution process, where many layers are hidden, paint strokes come undone, and colors blend in a more hazy and ethereal yet undefined image. “Become,” in contrast, confronts the viewer with clear outlines, shapes, and bolder colors that emerge from calmer backgrounds, no longer chaotic and at sea as in “Dissolve.” My series titled “The Underneath” serves as a transition between these 2 phases, where eyes and creatures start taking shape, yet remain disconnected from one another. These paintings and this personal evolutionary journey began after I engaged with “uncolonizing my imagination” in the words of Martin Shaw, and removing external visual influences mostly in the form of media, and allowing my own subconscious to reveal its colors to me.