Allie Sutherland

Artist Statement

Surrealist automatism is the practice of artistic channeling. While architectural training grounds the compositional flow of my work, automatism is it’s central facet.
My paintings begin with non-dominant hand brushstrokes. These stimulate my subconscious mind, allowing form to emerge through discovery. Impasto texture inspired by German expressionism roots my work in tangibility, whilst calligraphic strokes inspired by Japanese Shodo beckon it towards the ethereal. I weave these undulating threads seeing each color as an energetic current to be coaxed into a larger formation.
Rooted in mythology and spirituality, my work explores primordial narratives that shape human consciousness. Born out of inherent optimism, even when the subject matter holds tension, each painting has taught me a lesson, healed a wound or both.
Putting words to our impulses and creations is akin to trying to catch a firefly with our bare hands. In L’amour fou, Andre Breton writes about the dominion of the senses where the animate and inanimate converge, resulting in an internal lumen proliferating from its own source.
I believe painting bridges that consciousness gap, allowing us to hold onto a glimmer of truth.