Set of 4 wall sculptures. From the Behind Closed Doors series

Set of 4 wall sculptures, 2023 by Alex Hodge
From the Behind Closed Doors series
Hand-built plate with sgraffito and collaged transfers
Overall size: 18.5 x 17 x 0.25 in.
Individual Size:
1. Seeking Solace: 9.5 x 6 x 0.25 in.
2. Dreaming in Technicolor: 8.25 x 8.25 x 0.25 in.
3. Sharks in the Water: 6 x 8.5 x 0.25 in.
4. Getting at the Heart of the Matter: 9 x 8.5 x 0.25 in.

In this new series of wall plaques, titled "Behind Closed Doors," the artist reimagines original images from a book titled In Praise of the Backside. The book's collection features women from behind, most often captured by men, often untitled and anonymous. In the artist's reinterpretation of these images, women transcend their status as objects of lines and shadows, becoming subjects imbued with emotion, thought, and a place of belonging.
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Alex Hodge was always drawn to the arts and regularly channeled her creativity as a child whether in watercolor classes or scrapbooking with her mother. Hodge focuses on prioritizing women’s narratives in all aspects of her work. Through the decorative and symbolic details, she hints at narratives without completing them to invite the viewer to participate in creating meaning. The women she invents exist in the present but are of the imagined future in which we all have room to flourish, to tell our stories, to give and receive love, and to express the beauty and pain of the human condition. Fundamentally, her artworks are a celebration of the tenacity and vulnerability of women and clay, an interplay of history and hope.