Lydia Gravis
New Ground: Al Denyer’s Terrain Series
In a broad sense, Alison (Al) Denyer’s work over the last decade has referenced the geopolitical landscape of contemporary times. As she observes disturbing environmental issues relating to land and water use, the denial of global warming, and the exploitation of public lands, she responds with mark-making influenced by the visual elements that define the physicality of a place. Each mark becomes a radical act of sanity and a simultaneous act of protest. Although what inspires her work is dismal, the final images are not. Drawings and paintings contextualized by daunting situations take on a life of their own and offer a fascinating visual encounter and intimate, otherworldly feel.
Denyer’s recently completed Terrain series directly references topographical lines, but she configures them imaginatively, creating a new reality on paper. Topographical lines are used on maps to describe the earth’s surface, indicating the elevation and slope of the landscape. Fascinated by this translation of three-dimensionality to line, Denyer examines how linear language explains the unique identity of form and space by referencing informational data. As I investigate her drawings, I can’t help but think of human fingerprints and their likeness to topographical lines—both unique indicators of identity, no configuration exactly alike. But just like fingerprints, topographical lines can only go so far, representing facts, not essence. Perhaps this is what Denyer is hinting at. Before someone climbs a mountain, she might first look at a topographical map to obtain an idea of elevation gain and incline. But knowing what to expect on the climb and experiencing the climb are two distinctly different forms of understanding. As the climber’s body traverses the boulder fields and outcroppings, as she feels the sun beat down on her or the wind holler in her ear, she has a deeper understanding of the essence of that mountain. Denyer’s use of topographical lines, coupled with her intriguing inversion of positive and negative space, prompts us to consider alternative ways of knowing, reminding us of the complexities of perception as it’s filtered through experience.
Through repetition and accumulative mark-making, Al Denyer’s Terrain series overwhelms us in captivating ways, and when viewed from afar the subject matter of her intricate drawings appears purposefully unclear. Her allusive representation of subject leaves us curious, compelling us to approach the work and get lost in her illusion of topography. As we attempt to identify the work’s visual orientation, we are confronted with the wonder of an uncertain yet familiar vantage point, an oscillation between the microscopic and macroscopic. However, we typically operate in the meso, or intermediate, perspective, so we become enthralled by the aesthetic ambiguity seen from these rarely experienced micro and macro viewpoints. The tiny and repetitive wrinkles on our skin and the meandering lines of rivers remind us of an order and rhythm that we lose sight of amidst our chaotic and chronic meso routines. Al Denyer’s drawings offer a contemplative portal into these alternative visual perspectives and provide an optical access we don’t regularly have, mysteriously transporting us to imagined realms and reminding us of the environmental cadence that abounds when human destruction is minimal and distant.
Originally from Bath, England, Al Denyer is an Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Utah. She holds a MFA from Southern Illinois University and a BA (Hons) Degree from Winchester School of Art in England. Her drawings, paintings, prints, and installations have been presented in numerous solo and national and international juried and invitational exhibitions, and published in Manifest INDA, New American Paintings, American Art Collector, the journal of Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences And Technology. Denyer’s work is included in the Artist Viewing Program at The Drawing Center, New York City, and is part of numerous international collections. In 2010, she was awarded the Utah Artist Fellowship Award. She is represented by Modern West Fine Art in Salt Lake City.
Terrain Component III, Ink on paper, 6 x 6 inches, 2019, © Al Denyer.
Terrain IV, Ink on paper, 13 x 13 inches, 2018, © Al Denyer.
Terrain V, Ink on paper, 13 x 13 inches, 2018, © Al Denyer.
Terrain VI, Ink on paper, 13 x 13 inches, 2018, © Al Denyer.