Paper Thin Walls

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Anica Neiman, “Parameters II,” 2020

oil, acrylic and cold wax on unstretched canvas, 60” x 72” (courtesy the artist)

Emerging artist Anica Neiman gets teary as she speaks about the sources that inspired her first solo show, Paper Thin Walls, on view until April 9 at Harcourt House, an artist-run centre in Edmonton. A recent graduate of the University of Alberta’s fine arts program, Neiman has lived through some frightening upheavals.

“My entire life turned around during the pandemic,” she says. “All of my expectations of leaving school and art opportunities were just gone, even the jobs I applied for were gone.” Filled with dread over climate change and the pandemic, and increasingly uncertain of what was ahead, she took solace in art. 

The show’s earliest paintings, Parameters 1 and 2 – completed while she was still at school – already express anxiety about the future. These science-fiction landscapes are crawling with fungal creatures that slither and ooze over urban debris. It’s as if civilization has collapsed and the world has returned to Precambrian times.

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Anica Neiman, “Pinch,” 2021

oil and acrylic on stretched canvas, 24” x 30” (courtesy the artist)

Neiman has felt painfully isolated during the pandemic. But, surprisingly, her work became increasingly tender as the months passed. The hybrid life forms, now deeply emotive, take centre stage. In Sweet Spot, an amphibian paw struggles to emerge from a pile of bricks. Above, in the darkness, a gelatinous creature with a human hand reaches out to help. 

Some of these heartfelt, if dystopian, portraits are explicitly sexual. In Lovers, an amorphous organism with a prominent vaginal cavity is cradled by another. Some creatures kiss or suck each other, their bodies laden with forms resembling breasts or testicles. The erotic ambiguity of these scenes reflects Neiman’s dating experiences during the pandemic, when romance became riddled with rules and anxieties. “What does the government say we can do?” Neiman jokes as she recalls the quandaries she had to navigate.

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Anica Neiman, “Nestle,” 2021

graphite and watercolour (courtesy the artist)

Her need for contact, yet the utter strangeness of maintaining connections, inspired the show’s title. “Paper Thin Walls reminds me of living in my apartment complex, hearing everything around me and feeling closeness with my neighbours, but separated between thin walls,” she says. Memories of this experience even permeate Neiman’s technique. Like the muffled echoes of nearby voices, her paintings are composed of thin layers of translucent paint she then sprays with rubbing alcohol to expose deeper strata. 

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Anica Neiman, “Sweet Spot” (detail), 2021

oil, acrylic and cold wax on stretched canvas, 36” x 36” (courtesy the artist)

These oil and acrylic washes, drips, scratches and impasto wax layers turn Neiman’s canvases into virtual Rorschach tests – it’s hard not to discern images within the chaos. But the richness of her method belies the ominous symbolism: the non-archival blend of materials means her paintings won’t last. But, with the uncertain future ahead, that, itself, is her message.

“How are we going to live normal lives?” she asks. “There is so much existential dread my generation is faced with.” For her, art is part of the answer. Making creatures that embody terror and tenderness is a sublimation ritual for her, and, perhaps, for others who see her work. ■

Anica Neiman: Paper Thin Walls at the Harcourt House Artist Run Centre in Edmonton from March 4 to April 9, 2022.

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