The Moonlight Wisteria by Ali Aschman
9 May - 2 June 2007
OPENING: 18h30 WEDNESDAY 9 May 2007
Whatiftheworld / Artspace at The Old Biscuit Mill 373 Albert Rd. Woodstock
From 9 May - 2 June 2007 Whatiftheworld will be showing an exhibition by Ali Aschman entitled ‘The Moonlight Wisteria.’ Following her much talked about and acclaimed graduate show at The Michaelis School of Fine Art, Aschman will be having her debut solo show at Whatiftheworld centering aroung the theme of sleep; creating scenes somewhere between dreams and nightmares.
Variously cheeky, sinister, charming and prurient, Ali Aschman’s etchings, dioramas, paintings, sculptures and installations depict scenes from naive yet somewhat dark fables: childlike, but not for children. Drawing on multiple reference points, she seeks out evocative details and microcosms that generate small stories.
Her reoccurring characters tap directly into hidden anxieties, offering up a compilation of traumatic forgotten memories and narratives but with always surprisingly tender humour and sharp-sharp irony. This ambivalence is what makes her work so compelling. Surreal and multivalent, it raises important questions about the pertinence of using one’s own private anxieties to make the rest of us confront ours.
Ali Aschman has won numerous awards during her time at Michaelis, including the 2006 Irma Stern Award, the 2006 Maclver Scholarship, and the 2007 Judy Steinberg Award.
