Saatchi Art

Rebecca Wilson Chief Curator at Saatchi Art chooses Bessesdotter as promising and emerging artist 2022

Statement

"My inspiration comes from random & dynamic systems, repetition, empty space, arrays & modernism."

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Surrey & Bucks County Artist

Contact

Steve Piccione said...

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Her marvelous watercolors are a joyous expression of the indelible mark nature continues to forge on her soul. The alert colors and intricate flowing lines generate a complexity that never dissolves under the weight of intertwining and multiplying designs. There is an undisturbed enchantment within that beckons the viewer to linger and dream. You could be gazing into a magical stream or a euphoric sky. Turn the paintings in any direction and they continue to speak.

Her creative process is analogous to jazz improvisers who bravely jump into the unknown without maps or guiding coordinates. Bessesdotter’s bottomless talent and refined instinct navigate as she develops these very organic creations. Deep concentration opens into timelessness while she transforms diverse materials into resplendent artifacts.

...Steven Piccione

I consider myself a director in the artistic placement of imaginative biomorphic forms, maintaining the space between and holding them in place with invisible tension. Spatial harmony and balance are how I create a sense of serenity yet I also want to arouse the pleasurable sensation of tension with the anticipation of movement and unusual colour palettes. In this way I am planning collectives, communities and possibly species.

Currently I am interpreting the forms and placing them in Arrays, Portrait and Still Life paintings. The arrangement is a concert in an imaginative space, my mind is a type of laboratory where the organic forms are spontaneously engendered. I have an emotional connection to the shapes and a sense of fantasy wherein I ponder that they might come alive when I am asleep or not looking. The forms at times have a sense of intimacy where they poke, touch, layer, and nestle. Sometimes I include outliers that have no relationship to the majority in the array but are distinguished by size or colour.

After a quick imprecise sketch, each group or object is laid in with the brush in an analog hand painting method without tape or resists. The balance and tension are formed by eye as I work and the shapes form organically. As the bioforms emerge I consider the value and colour, and then gauge these two elements continuously throughout the process. The colour palettes I use may appear to be bright, but are usually mixes of imperceptibly greyed hues. I prefer to use paper, wood panels or linen or cotton/poly blends as my substrates. I tend to like opposites and at times use very smooth backgrounds, and other times build up surfaces to be like rough terrain or have backgrounds of heavy impasto small brushstrokes of a single colour. My paintings are where minimalism and biomorphism meet. 

Always The Dream 2022 Acrylic on Canvas

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Become the Stars 2022 Acrylic on canvas

Bio 

Born a Bucks County artist, Alison Bessesdotter grew up along the banks of the Delaware River in rural Pennsylvania. With a horse for transportation and riding off the beaten track, she developed a lifelong interest in nature which continues to inspire her artwork. As an artistic autodidact, she explores art mediums and materials enjoying experimentation into new territory. Bessesdotter is an intuitive artist and while respectful of tradition, but with an iconoclastic streak, her works have been described in the press as “improvisational: worlds of magic, euphoria and enchantment.” Bessesdotter holds a Degree in Technology and Computer Science. Alison’s artworks are in private and corporate collections.

A Resident Artist for 7 years at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Alison served as a Visual Arts Board member of ArtsQuest and was on the Music Committee. As a Resident Artist Bessesdotter fulfilled tasks such as: daily open studio, monthly First Friday events, teaching, art installations, annual exhibitions, annual featured artist exhibitions, festival painting demonstrations, arts festival setup, cash point management, and art auctions. During her tenure, Alison acquired a 3 metre long industrial robotic sewing machine in her studio using discards and offcuts in textile art, taught, demonstrated and held exhibitions of her textile artworks.  

Upon receiving the LiveStrong grant, Bessesdotter setup The HeArt Program bringing 48 free art workshops in one year to the local community members touched by cancer. Tasks included budget management, workshop scheduling, creating marketing materials, and hiring instructors. As part of the outreach, Alison held a luncheon event to announce the project, met with health professionals and administrators, visited hospitals and infusion centres and held free workshops to publicise the project. All 48 workshops were attended to near full capacity.

Alison managed The Bessesdotter Verksted from 2010-2013 where she held 4 annual exhibitions. Bessesdotter performed tasks such as curator, membership coordinator, publicity chair and juror for regional art organisations including The Salemme Foundation and The Allentown Art Museum. Prior to this Alison maintained a studio at home and was a 4 year member of the Spirit Square printmaking cooperative studying lithography with Tamarind Printmakers.

Bessesdotter has received the ArtPop Billboard Award in 2018, a LiveStrong Grant in 2014-2015, the Pittsburgh Watercolour Painting Prize 2013 and Lehigh Art Alliance Prize 2011 and 2012.

Currently, Alison lives in Redhill, and keeps a painting studio in Reigate, still sews at home and explores the North Downs on foot.
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