‘Under the strain’

Alanna Hernandez

7th of June - 30th of June 2023

Soho Revue is pleased to present ‘Under the Strain’, a solo exhibition of works by Alanna Hernandez. The works on display are an exploration of strain, tension, trauma and stress, explored through abstract form. By experimenting with their rhythm, colour and weight, Hernandez visualises these sensations, their impact on the body and mind as well as their legacy.

In this series of works, soft ribbon like forms undulate and coil, and their fluidity is interrupted or probed by sharp triangular forms. Despite their abstraction, Alanna’s constructions evoke soft matter inside the body. Pink and fleshy and coiled, they recall the tightly wound tubes of the intestine or brain and sit like decontextualised pieces of anatomy on the page. Her forms are somatically affecting and, when probed by the solid rigidity of foreign form, she visually simulates the wounding of flesh, the impact of sharp on soft, the folding in on itself of our body when trauma occurs.

Despite their corporeality, Hernandez’ work is also an exploration in depicting intangible psychological stresses. Tension evoked by the coiled positions of her pink ribbons recall phrases that describe temperamental states, such as ‘wound up’ or ‘highly strung’. Despite this, the paintings in ‘Under the Strain’ also have cathartic qualities in their sense of rhythm and movement as well as colour palette. Painting in the legacy of non-objectivism and the quest for expression of the inner self rather than external nature, Hernandez uses colour perception and sensation as a device to further illustrate the psychological vicissitudes she depicts: the confronting heat of pinks and reds is offset by the recessive coolness of deep blue and purple tones for example.

Much like the effect of her work, Hernandez’ creative process is cathartic and methodical. It begins with intuitive sketching, and leads, through building and layering of colour by fine cross hatching, to the final drawings in the exhibition. Her subject matter feels inherent to her medium in the resistance of the wood grain which echoes stress and strain and roughness. It provides restraint which when overcome achieves the refined and meditative beauty of her final drawings.