Artist Showcase: Alice Neave
Introducing our next Artist Showcase: Alice Neave, presenting 'Dwell'. Based in London, Neave’s practice explores movement, colour, and texture, with material taking centre stage and process guiding each work.
Developed during a period of personal and creative change, Dwell marks a shift in Neave’s practice. Working instinctively with paint, charcoal, ink, and—most recently—dye, her compositions evolve through layered mark-making, allowing unpredictability to shape the outcome. Dense and sparse passages sit side by side, with figurative elements drifting in and out of abstraction.
Blending classical structure with intuitive gesture, Neave creates works that feel tactile and quietly emotive — often described as portraits of the medium itself. Throughout 'Dwell', themes of refuge, memory, and imagined landscapes emerge, giving each piece a sense of depth, stillness, and presence.
"Alice Neave’s paintings are tactile and dreamlike, shaped by intuition, emotion and material - we’re delighted to showcase her at Sister.” - Sophie Ashby
This body of work reflects ideas of refuge and dwelling. How did this period in your life shape the way these themes emerged in the work?
I made this body of work during pregnancy, my first, a time of huge physical, emotional, and psychological change. The idea of a safe place or refuge became something I kept returning to instinctively. The imagined spaces that appear throughout the paintings feel tied to a desire for protection, nurturing, and connection to nature. They come from a very embodied experience—something felt in my head, heart, and body—rather than from a conceptual starting point, and that sense of dwelling runs quietly through all of the pieces.
You worked exclusively with dyes for this series, embracing their unpredictability. What does working with chance allow you to discover?
Working with dyes means giving up a lot of control. They are difficult to manipulate but I’ve come to see that uncertainty as a strength. Allowing chance into the process opens up outcomes I wouldn’t arrive at through intention alone. Working with this medium encourages a more intuitive way of working, where layers build over time and the work can shift between being dense and sparse. Often I’m surprised by the results, and those moments of surprise feel vital- they lead to discoveries that feel alive rather than overly resolved.
Fabric only becomes a ‘surface’ at the very end of your process. How does working with such a soft, malleable material influence the feeling of the work?
Fabric remains soft and responsive almost until the very end, only becoming a defined surface when it’s stretched onto the frame. That malleability allows the work to feel fluid and open rather than fixed. Even once stretched, there’s still a sense of softness present, which I think contributes to the feeling of gentleness and permeability in the paintings. The material holds the marks in a way that feels bodily and tender, rather than rigid or hard-edged.
What kind of relationship do you hope your work forms with the spaces it lives in?
I hope the work offers a sense of calm and refuge within the spaces it inhabits. Rather than dominating a room, I’d like it to sit quietly and allow people to spend time with it, perhaps noticing different elements as they return to it. Ideally, the work feels integrated into its surroundings—almost like an extension of the space—creating moments of pause, softness, and contemplation within everyday environments.
Why do you think art matters in the everyday spaces we live in, rather than only in formal gallery settings?
Art has the ability to subtly shape how we feel and move through our daily lives. When it exists in everyday spaces, it can become something lived with rather than observed at a distance. I think that’s especially important for work that speaks about nature, it can offer moments of grounding, comfort, or reflection in places where we might not expect them. Art doesn’t always need a formal setting to be meaningful; sometimes its quiet presence within daily life is where it can be felt most deeply.
