A french Heritage
Revisiting the legacy of French Decorative Arts, Alice Riehl works with movement and asymmetry to compose imaginary sceneries, with obvious, yet sometimes abstract, references to fauna and flora. Like tapestries from the Middle Age, the tales told on the walls are oneiric and metaphorical. They place the human facing the strength and grandiosity of elements and slipping into them. The composition of Alice’s works produces multiple levels of perception and understanding, depending on the distance and the angles oneself stands from the walls. The sculptures seem to grow out of the wall. If perspective is needed to get the whole story, numerous details emerge when getting closer to the piece, from subtle touches of glaze to meticulously modeled elements. This provides a sense of intimacy with the artwork.
Alice Riehl’s mural installations softly reflect light thanks to the smoothness and delicacy of porcelain. The white color, pure and timeless, enlightens the sculptures and balance the intricacy of the patterns. It comes in different subtle shades. Touches of soft tones are sometimes included to highlight the white, with a refined contrast
Hand-modeled Porcelain
Alice Riehl uses hand modeling as her main shaping technique. This ancestral approach brings a creative and formal freedom that opens never-ending possibilities of expression. Through hand modeling, the relation of the artist with porcelain transforms into a fertile and challenging conversation. Porcelain has the peculiar property of distortion during firing, generating gentle shifts to the shape. This produces some complexity but also breathes life into the sculptures. Emotions arise from the sensitive collaboration between the hands and the medium. Each porcelain item of every mural installation is carefully and patiently modeled by the artist herself, conveying a true feeling of uniqueness while contemplating Alice Riehl’s wall art.