art making & exhibiting 2023

ainsley thorpe

Ainsley Thorpe primarily works with screen prints, creating abstracted imagery on canvas that convey her perspective on life, and examine boundaries between surrealism and realism. Thorpe’s most ambitious work to date, Feel the Way You Dance explores illusion, connection and freedom. Thorpe explains, ‘From afar or from first glance, viewers might not initially see that the multitude of lines depict figures dancing simultaneously and the composition can be viewed from all angles. This adds elements of illusion and surprise.’ Thorpe purposefully printed many screen prints of her line drawings to create layers, the images overlap symbolising connections between people. Thorpe communicates a feeling of losing control through the chaos of her artworks, as if there were no rules to this artwork. The idea of dance is depicted through the repetition of the screen prints, as the moves are repeated over and over again, alike the screen-printing process. The rhythmic imagery suggests the beat and entices the viewers to feel like dancing.

Thorpe uses a variety of artforms: watercolour and acrylic painting, stencil and screen printing in her artwork Face Plant, to create a collage of different designs and shapes. The designs were based on her photographs of a tulip and her face, making the main design and focal point of her artwork an abstracted self- portrait.

Thorpe used watercolour and spray paint to depict an abstract landscape in Illusion Garden where the realistic background contrasts with the surrealistic raining flower spray paints.