Alice Herrick
Le Document (LD): We love the work you made for International Woman's Day. Can you tell us how you felt making all these portraits of great artists and is there one artist in particular you'd single out as being a particular hero or source of inspiration to you?
Alice Herrick (AH): I wanted to make a visual record of all the female artists who have influenced me in some way…more than a list, an homage, a meditation, a collection, or perhaps an army. It has been a profoundly tender experience developing each portrait as I set my intention to gently reveal a relationship with each artist, from choosing an appropriate image including the artist’s hand, to describing with pencil and ink each wrinkle and twinkle and curve. I thought I might do 20 portraits, but it’s 72 and counting... Many of these artists made work into great old age, and this knowledge has given me space to breathe and an expansive sense of time in my own life.
Georgia O'Keefe, who lived to 98, was the first portrait in the series as her life and work have resonated with me for the longest time...her paintings, her collections, her houses and her clothes.
LD: You did your painting MA at Chelsea. Are your memories of being there positive?
AH: I applied to Chelsea because a young Peter Doig recommended it to me. I was making semi-figurative dreamlike paintings at a time when conceptual art was on the rise. It's hard to imagine now how unusual figurative painting was in the early ‘90s in London, but at Chelsea we had a lot of space and freedom to experiment. Visiting tutors like Neil Jeffries and Andrew Stahl gave me the most support and Damien Meade and Audrey Reynolds were inspiring friends in my year. Chelsea was good, it kick started a life in the art world.
LD: Did you grow up in a house with lots of art on the wall? And were you taken to galleries as a child?
AH: I grew up surrounded by my aunt’s paintings and prints by the likes of BreugeI and Bosch. I used to wonder at all these images and in particular The Garden of Earthly Delights' Tree Man - apparently Bosch's only self-portrait.
I remember going around the Tate with my father, looking at the Surrealists, and aged 8 saying that I wanted to be an artist. I was given art books and materials and encouraged from an early age and was fortunate to have great art teachers, who believed in me. My ‘A’ level art teacher took a few of us around Cork Street as well as major galleries, museums and theatre, whilst preparing us for art school.
LD: Are you someone who works all the time - do you work more when you're happy?
AH: I do make work most days. I usually work in series on paper and also over the last 3 years have been keeping tiny sketchbooks - drawing people on public transport, by pools, in parks etc. It started as a summer project in 2019, but has continued right through the pandemic and I now have hundreds of drawings of strangers faces, often wearing masks.
I don't think happiness necessarily provides the best frame of mind for intense, moving work, but it’s good to be seriously playful. I can be extremely prolific in times of grief, frustration or melancholia and there have been moments when drawing and making are the only things that seem to make sense.
LD: Whose opinion of your work do you take the most notice of?
AH: I respect the opinion of artist friends whose work I admire, and it is always good to feel that you have connected in a meaningful way to an audience, particularly if they want to live with your work. I have quite a large collection of friends’ works and love having it around me, especially in recent years, when it was difficult to see those friends or even visit galleries.
I particularly trust my dear friend, the artist, Maria Teresa Gavazzi and my boyfriend, Julian Firth, an actor, who writes a lot about art. They are the ones I tend to see exhibitions with and I value their honest opinions.
LD: Do you worry about London getting more expensive? Is it getting harder to survive as an artist in London?
AH: I have lived in London all my life and you have to think laterally to survive as an artist. I have worked in film, education, exhibition & live event curation and also founded two galleries, amongst numerous other things. There are more opportunities for artists to promote and sell work online and reach a wider audience than previous generations, so even though London is being squeezed, it is possible to be anywhere and feel connected. The Artist Support Pledge was a brilliant project that emerged during lockdown and saved many people from going under. Meanwhile, it is true that artists will always improve an area, so we have to keep moving as the thrill seekers are hot on our heels!
LD: Is there a painting on show in the permanent collection of any London based Museum that your particularly like to return to or than never fails to delight you? Or, is there a famous painting you'd like to own?
AH: this may seem strange, but I do love The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche in the National Gallery. There is so much going on emotionally and historically and the theatrical composition and exquisite quality of the paint holds you despite the unfolding horror.
I wouldn’t want to own the Delaroche, as it’s huge and should belong to the nation, so instead I’d have Ithell Colquhoun’s mysterious Scylla from the Tate.
LD: What are your hopes for the future? Do you have any big ambitions or desires to travel somewhere?
AH: a home and studio by the sea and perhaps a gallery with an artist’s residency and outside space for sculpture… that is my hope for the future!
I love road trips, travelling through landscapes, finding interesting architecture and great museums & galleries along the way. There is plenty to explore in the UK, but when we can travel more easily, I’d like go back to India, drive across Italy and the US desert states and retrace some family footsteps in Japan.
LD: What do you think of the quote, "I'd rather be lucky than good"?
AH: if you get on a plane, you want the pilot to be good, not just lucky!
LD: What is your idea of beauty in nature?
AH: I’m extremely content beachcombing… collecting and arranging shells, pebbles and bones by the sea… watching sunlight sparkling on water, clouds crossing a full moon, tulips unfurling… bower birds curating their nests, birds of paradise dancing, and pangolins.
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Exhibition info:
Alice Herrick
Artist Portraits
The Stash Gallery
4-26 March 2022
Open: Wed – Sat, 6 – 10pm
The original pencil and ink portraits will all be on show and limited edition prints of each portrait and a limited edition silk scarf featuring 70 of the portraits will be available to purchase from the gallery.
