“Thank you Texas” 2005 120 x 180cm

“A new environment can provide a ledge or backdrop against which we can rest our thoughts. Through my work I try to communicate my understanding of an observed ‘moment in time’, foraged from everyday experiences, and how the viewer interacts with it…” says Alex Roberts, who has an innate ability to sense the essence of a space or capture that ‘glimpse of an instance’ and express it through the relevant medium.

“Here’s looking at you!” 2005 122 x 152cm

Her new paintings and prints seem to provoke or question the viewer. Is the ‘figure’ within he new works the artist coming out to play from behind the lens? Has the artist sought to capture the characters within the image or has she used their image as a tool to investigate a thought? Or possibly are the figures placed as a spectacle to stir or jolt our individual senses and contemplations? Who is the voyeur – we the viewer or the figures within the image? Who is questioning, who is poking fun?

The resulting work, whether it is an ever-changing use of methods, loses the sensation of familiar, structured time and space. It dictates nothing, sometimes provokes and often simply projects and captures a moment’s glare.

Knowledge is already harvested, although we may not be aware of it. The work evokes the opening of the inward eye, and brings to the surface subliminal images and thoughts.

Alex Roberts is an artist who predominately works with paint alongside other tools and methods to arrive at her visual responses. These include drawing, photography and digital media. How or where the works are installed also plays a key role.

From her collections of thoughts, memories and snippets taken from her journeys and observations, she harnesses and orders these experiences through these various forms.

As is often the case in life, her observations do not always lead to answers; nor are the viewpoints ever set in stone. The journey is not a straight line; it does not take the same route or use the same mode of transport. This unravelling process challenges the viewer and artist to reflect upon the complexity and ephemeral nature of life.

Alex’s current collections of works appear more contrived and fantastical. They hint at the marriage of previous drawing based and photographic exploration. They reflect the mingling of the contemplative power of photography with its ability to capture an image and the intense vigour and energy of pencil meeting paper – the fusing of two states.

“Cath (working title)” 2006 68 x 88cm