Page 3 - cn Alter - Realism with intro 01-01-2025 _Handy

It is the power of ambiguity which instils the sense of mystery, that undisclosed part of a picture, a piece of sculpture or music and the world.

Symbolism, especially in terms of the works of Gustave Klimt in the period of 1900 onwards, his compositions added the sense of being suspended out of time, or to
relating with other rhythms beyond our normal perception.

In addition, Klimt used inanimate design elements and consequently animated them through direct visual association with animate figures, thus breaking down
conventional perspective.
The Cubist movement’s desire to depict simultaneously all facets and events within a single time frame and picture space, indicated a way forward.
However, this approach still seemed limited by the fact that representation was simplified to a single time event and the deliberate disintegration of perspective, for Neal
this is visually too limiting.

Over a period, Neal compiled a portfolio of images, sketches and painting studies, depicting elements of architecture, gardens, landscape and sculpture which he had
personally experienced.

Considering this portfolio and incorporating the various influences that he had discovered, Neal formulated a new mode of composition, which he termed ‘Alter Realism’.
Alter- Realism is a pictorial concept where past, present and sense of the future coexist, it is a construct where statements of the past made through design, art,
architecture, sculpture are given a new interpretation by the way Neal relates these as secondary, tertiary, or any number of sub compositions within the picture space.
This form of visual presentation creates an alternative reality and thereby alludes to a state out of conventional time and place, beyond conformable representation.

Conformable representation and the subject are based on a singular time event, with a homogeneous perspective relating to a single plane of reference incorporating
foreground, middle distance, and horizon. Any sub composition or narrative are similarly relating to the same plane and time event.

Whereas in the case of Alter-Realism, there is no single subject, but rather by superimposition it is the resultant visual relationship between elements within the overall
composition. Further, the picture space is composed of layers and within each layer are facets, which can depict differing time events, spatial and narrative concepts.

Fantasy plays a part in the conception and narrative of the painting by way of selecting appropriate structural elements and considering.
Their relationships, in such a way as to encompass in the painting a range of coexisting feelings that I have either experienced at a particular point in time or through
inspirational thought during meditation, listening to music, reading or relating to art.
It is through the selection of collective experiences that the visual poetry of the painting is formed. Visual Poetry, being the language that purveys a sense of spirit or feeling
in anything, that alludes to the sublime or elevates the common place to a higher state.

Neal’s work is based on themes that deal with the relationship between society and nature and philosophical ideas, relating to spiritual concepts such as, a spiritual hierar-
chy beyond this material existence, the duality of body and spirit and the relationship to creation.
The painting of each composition is a totally unique journey, albeit there is the initial concept for each work, but in the process of actualising ideas the direction of the piece
can take on a completely different route for each work.

Neal - Studio - 2024