Sketchbook: Alice - Reinventing the Cliche


It's always difficult to express your own idea when the subject you're wanting to represent has been "done and done", as they say. The subject here, of course, is poor Alice, lost in Wonderland and in trouble again. At first glance, the rabbit appears to be trying to save her, but a closer look gives the impression that he may have been the one to give her a shove. Symbols of Alice's misadventures seem to spill from the rabbit's pockets, complete with hot tea and lemons. The flurry of chaos and disorder makes the rabbit's intentions unclear. Did he drop everything in the rush to save her? Or has he simply thrown the tea party out with the guest?

Alice's horrified expression speaks volumes concerning her dilemma. Does she reach for the mummified paw in the hope of rescue, or plunge headlong into the brier patch? But this Alice is not the innocent adolescent of Carroll's tale, as evidenced by the pin-up style pumps and seamed stockings beneath her taffeta cocktail dress. The feeling represented here is one of being trapped in a relationship with someone who would save you from the frying pan just to throw you into the fire. Neither is a pleasant choice in such a case...

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