There’s A World Out There: Jess Allen at Château La Coste

Following on from Allen’s breakthrough show, This is Now, with Unit last year, the artist continues to cement her place as a compelling voice in contemporary British art. Her paintings remind us that our most profound journeys often unfold in quiet, unassuming spaces: either our own homes, or our own heads.

Within the captivating landscape of Château La Coste, Provence, There’s A World Out There is hosted in the Richard Rogers Gallery – a dramatic architectural statement in itself. The 27-metre-long exhibition space is cantilevered over the hillside, appearing to float over the Provençal landscape.

By staging the exhibition in this remarkable setting, Jess Allen offers a truly immersive experience; the sleek, light-filled pavilion not only highlights Allen’s introspective paintings but also underscores the exhibition’s central themes of refuge, interiority, and the push-and-pull of the world beyond.

Jess Allen, Exhibition Statement

In this exhibition, There’s A World Out There, I am exploring feelings relating to the inner self and our emotional well-being, and how these can be connected to a sense of place. In particular, the home is used as a metaphor, acting as protector and comforter. 

Sofas slept upon are almost womb like, providing an escape from the threat of a life beyond security. Within this framework, the paintings are about two interpretations of being alone; either as a positive solitude, an independent being-ness, or in contrast a fear of isolation and loneliness.

Throughout these works I use the self (portrait) as the central protagonist as well as a vehicle, to show universally experienced emotional states and dilemmas. Everyday, often domestic, circumstances are a common link when connecting with others. In these images nothing much is going on, making them easily relatable. This lack of ‘happenings’ focuses the viewer on the main subject – introspection – and the subsequent self analysis and insight which are so often gained when alone.

The shadow of a partner/companion is included in several images, suggestive of a second presence. This can either be interpreted as real, or imaginary. In several works there is a contrast between the ‘real’, physical figure, and the ‘unreal’ shadow figure. This is indicative of how our thoughts ultimately have so much impact on our actual experience of life, in the here and now, and that we live in a dual experience of existence, both physically and mentally.

Themes in much of the works are about coming to terms with one’s own ultimate alone-ness, while at the same time experiencing the desire for support from another. On one hand they refer to memory and grief, while alternatively they allude to how, in the present moment, a fear of foreboding loss can be experienced. There is a definite questioning of the feelings that arise, and how they can consume and trap.

In the painting There’s a world out there, the figure on the balcony looks outwards from the building, which represents security, the safe inside, onto an urban vista, representing the unknown. There beyond lie possibilities, and the image signifies becoming consciously aware of the need to leave the familiar environment, the home, both real and metaphorical, and venture out. So this image is about questioning the limitations of having too interior an outlook, while understanding the reticence felt when faced with change.

Companion pieces, Looking out and Going somewhere also explore similarly nuanced feelings, while, in contrast, an image such as In my own world suggests ‘the pull’ of turning away from the outside, shown here by a patch of sunlight on the sofa, and remaining ‘safe’ in introversion and familiarity.

In The passage of time, Sometimes things happen, and Even when I sleep, I reference memory and how past experience, and its later contemplation, can often affect how we feel in the present moment. In all these paintings, a figure lies on the sofa, possibly asleep, while across her, a second figure’s shadow is cast. Like my earlier painting, I even dream about you, this shadow figure is metaphorical, a mental mirage, a thought shape, rather than simply the shadow of someone nearby. They are not simply images about light and shadow, and a specific moment in time, but rather I use visual physical events to suggest the companionship between someone in private, perhaps asleep, with an imaginary ‘other’, or more specifically someone who is no longer present in reality, but only in our deep consciousness.

All The Regrets could be about both past and present. A figure, head in hands, may be seen to convey how thoughts and anxieties can be extremely felt. Her body language could be read as shame, not wanting to show one’s face, or even a way of guarding or protecting against anything else invading her fragile mental state. Although I have interpreted this work in this way, I feel strongly that art is always open to others’ interpretations. Aside from a more psychological reading, and without knowing the title, this image could also be seen as someone simply hiding her eyes from the brilliant sunlight. 

Another work, Empathy, definitely suggests to me a metaphoric interpretation. Is it despair or exasperation which makes the female protagonist clasp her hair? Or is she simply waking up? Note, how the shadow figure echoes and mirrors her position. Through careful choice of titles I always hope to open up a conversation.

Finally, paintings such as An almost cloudless sky and Do we read to feel we are not alone? delve into how we can find a union between the indoor personal safe place, and the outside world. In both pictures, the figure is on her own absorbed in reading, the book being for me symbolic of knowledge and fulfilled solitude. But also present are the outdoors and nature, abundant and full of magnificence, representing the inevitability of growth.