Brightons Arty: Alison Krog

Unnatural forms

Brighton seafront really has got it all. Buzzing beach, plenty of beer stops, fab fish and chips, the Pier… And soft sculptured body parts that explore the juxtaposition of beauty and the grotesque. What? You mean you haven’t discovered the surreal world of Holly Rozier that’s to be found at the Open Studios down in the old arches?
Holly’s work has got to be the most astonishing stuff to enter the arty inbox this year. And she gets top marks, too, for picture captioning (check out the ‘Bleeding, scabby blob’ below). But seriously, I have no idea how she does it. Her work is inspired by intimations of the human form, with selected body parts reworked to a different extent in each of her pieces. She contorts, inflates and extends the body parts into a new breed or hybrid of a being. These surreal, anthropomorphic forms could be human, animal, plant or alien; genetically engineered or naturally evolved, alive or dead?

Everything susceptible to transformation is cut and sewn by Holly’s skilled hand. Contrasting ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ fabrics, hessian sacking and nylon tights are used to create the appearance of skin. Alongside, rich silky fabrics are used to create intricate and beautiful, yet putrid and wet, sections of innards exposed through the ‘skins’ of the forms.
This is an artist who thrives on heavily decorative and time-consuming processes. And she likens the act of repetitive hand-sewing and adorning the surface of her sculptures with bead after bead, and transformed fabric to the act of making a Frankenstein-style creation.
Go see. You’ll be attracted, repelled and utterly intrigued. Or check our Holly’s entry in our annual publication Art in Brighton 2015.
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