The Power of Memory and Home

The Power of Memory and Home

Artist Alexandra Lown 

Tucked away in the R.W. Witt Gallery of Sacramento State University was a collection of works that demonstrated a certain kind of strength not often thought of in contemporary art--that of love and home. Artist Alexandra Lown has combined comfort and wonder in her lucid artworks.

Faces and Refractions, 2018. Oil paint and oil pastel on canvas. $2000

Above is a depiction of Lown's childhood home, where she still lives in Sacramento. The sculpture-like modeling, the attention to detail, give a sense of reality to the welcoming scene. Yet closer attention shows the dream-like elements of the piece: clouds float across the scene, flowers grow through the walls, and the furniture ebbs in and out of solidity. This scene is a memory, affected by its remember: the artist. 

 Lown:

"This is how my kitchen looked when I was little before we did anything to it when this was the table he picked up at a garage sale and the laminate floor he put in last minute. The table was a metal tin-topped table that I did all my coloring at when I was really little--so kind of formative place. Which is why there are these child-like elements." 

"We originally had a birdhouse outside and my grandpa had taught me how to build a birdhouse, so I put it outside (in the painting) sort of juxtaposed with the actual home of the bird in the painting, made of metal wire, to kind of show the many different kinds of homes you have."

The materials in this painting, and indeed most of her work, varies from stitching and fabric to oil pastels and paint on canvas. Her choice of materials ties into the homey-dreamlike feel of her work. According to Lown, these materials have more meaning than traditional paint & canvas. They separate the work from the traditional Western values, which tends to be focused on masculine, rather than feminine power. 

Every One of These Chairs, Remains, 2018. Oil paint and oil pastel on canvas. $3000

When speaking on other forms of inspiration for her work, Lown attributed much of it to photographs and memories, some not of her own. Incorporating the history of her family into her art.

Lown:

"Primarily I went through my mom's old photographs. She has old photo books of her homes in upstate New York to her move to Sacramento and the homes shes had along the way."

"My mom has been an incredible support and inspiration for me. She got me interested in art and helped nurture that interest in me. She was a caretaker and passed that idea of nurturing onto me. The work that I do is in a way kind of docile and nurturing and caring. I think a lot of art recently has been, well I think that now to legitimize yourself as an artist you have to do something big and something edgy. Something strong to really empower yourself through the medium in a way that's kind of aggressive. I wanted to say that carefulness and quietness is in a way powerful as well." 

Lown is studying music as well as art at Sac State there are elements of that education in her art. For example one of the most emotional and eye-catching pieces named Requiem for a Wedding Cake depicts the memory of her grandparent's wedding. So named due to the requiems meaning as a memorial composition. Memorializing her grandparents and their loving memories that have long since passed.

Requiem for a Wedding Cake, 2018, oil paint and oil pastel on canvas. $2000

The ghostly figures in the paintings are as much furniture as the chairs, simply ghosts of the past that tell a story. They are "a moment in the room's history." Furniture in these works contains emotion and personality, telling the story of their owners more so than the painting's figures. The room is "impregnated with memory." No better example of this is found than in Requiem for a Wedding Cake.

Similarly, Nocturne for Lamp is so named due to the lamps singularity in the piece much like a Nocturne's solo instrument. These smaller works by Lown often have key elements that are focused on rather than her sprawling canvas pieces.

After Sac State Lown is planning to go on to get a Masters degree, perhaps at the Chicago Art Institute. She will continue studying painting and music. Her goal is to consistently create art and perhaps teaching at a university or working at a museum. 

Much of Allie Lown's work is for sale, including small prints not depicted in this post. If interested please comment below and support a local artist.