Anna Carey Interview: New Age Neon Fantasy
Every once in a while, the stars align and an artist creates something that truly resonates with the current age. With her Madam Mystery series, Australian artist Anna Carey has tapped into the latest explosion of interest in New Age mysticism. From tarot and fortune telling, to angel messages and auras, people are understandably looking for comfort from a higher power during these turbulent times.
With travelling restricted during the pandemic, Anna focused on the psychic shops in Los Angeles where she was based. She noticed they favoured a particular style of branding and architecture. Candy colours, celestial imagery and neon promises.
“Light has long been associated with mysticism and the afterlife, the other-worldly glow of deities, stained glass windows in churches, the bright white light of enlightenment as well as its everyday application as signage.” – Barbara Dowse, Curator of Madam Mystery at Artereal Gallery
On first look these psychic shop fronts might look real, but they are in fact carefully constructed models, placed in a fantasy landscape. As we examine these neon invitations, we are forced to ask ourselves – what is our own view of these practices? Why are we turning to these psychic outlets, and why now?
Connecting across the void, the Madam Mystery exhibition offered fortune cookies with mystic messages, and a phone number. Gallery visitors could call the number, ask a question and Madam Mystery would provide the answer.
Whatever your position on New Age mysticism, these pieces have a humbling affect. Miniature, fragile buildings remind us of our own tiny place in a massive, indifferent universe. Is it any wonder we’re asking Madam Mystery to show us the way?
Fascinated by her work, I was lucky enough to ask Anna a few questions about her influences and inspiration..
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‘Madam Mystery’ features lurid neon psychic shop fronts, with promises to ‘read the colour of your dreams’ and create ‘angel connections in the void’. What inspired you to focus on this subject?’
This series was created in the pandemic while travel was restricted and therefore is based on psychic shops predominantly in Los Angeles where I was based. The spaces are very simple structures with seductive new age signage offering realised dreams and escapism. However, this type of space that mixes simplicity and fantasy fonts and icons is still very similar to my previous work such as seaside holiday homes or roadside motels. I like how the small shift really highlights my main concerns and ongoing themes of architecture and fantasy.
As the work was created in the pandemic, it also raises issues about the future. In an unprecedented time with a shifting collective conscious, the work reminds us that the future is unknown and looks at the ways that people try to make sense of reality, chaos, restriction and things unseen. The idea of escapism is heightened by inserting my own real life phone number into the seductive new age neon signage. This invites viewers to escape into a fantasy world and creates a sense of play and connection in times of isolation. The work offers a place where reality and the unconscious can co-exist and create a bit of psychic balance.
Your work seems to conjure themes of urban decay and the fragility of human habitation. There’s also a feeling of loneliness and alienation, as there is no sign of the buildings’ residents. What is it about these themes that interests you?
I started making places of decay and transition as a reaction to the urban environment around me where I was based, which was my home town the Gold Coast. Many places of memory were disappearing around me and these places were either in transition for demolition, renovations or weathered through time. Therefore when making models I allow for mistakes and changes to occur and in turn these parallel the urban environment. They are objects of memory fragmented like memory itself.
I choose not to include people as I think it would create another narrative and I want these places isolated on their own to give them the dignity they deserve. The subject of home and intimate architectural space is so potent alone and holds so much meaning and emotion to people, so the emptiness allows the viewer to bring their own memories and experiences to the images.
You’ve mentioned previously that your mother was an architect. Did this influence your art style at all? I’m imagining you growing up surrounded by architectural models!
I actually didn’t see that many architectural models growing up as mum shifted her education and career to social science when I was young. However, I think her knowledge and education definitely influenced my way of seeing the world, and expanded me into being comfortable with exploring the discipline of architecture.
Talking about influences, which other artists have influenced you over the years? I haven’t seen anyone doing anything remotely similar to you.
I love Rachel Whiteread in particular her masterpiece work ‘House’, it’s genius. I love Ed Ruscha and his conceptual photography and font-based works and the way he captures the place of Los Angeles.
There actually are other artists who construct spaces and photograph them similar to my work such as Thomas Demand, Lori Nix and James Casebere. All the artists have a very different approach to style and subject matter and in comparison, it highlights their own unique view.
As your career has progressed, the structures you create seem to become ever more sophisticated and detailed – has this been a conscious choice, or something that came with experience?
Thank you! I think it is the ongoing practise, it’s a natural result of working continuously. I also do want to keep things exciting, so I try new things and challenge myself. For instance, in the beginning my challenge was going from house to high-rise and my most recent challenge was making neon signs. I’m currently working on very large warehouse style buildings with multiple shops and neon lights, so the space is very complex.
Can you say anything about what you’re working on next?
I think I just gave it away in the previous question….I’m working towards a show at Sophie Gannon Gallery in March 2024. I will continue working with neon lights and am inspired by film noir, and creating spaces and cinematic style images with narrative potential.
About the Artist
Anna Carey is an Australian artist based in Los Angeles whose work overlaps photography, model-making, film and drawing. Through memory and imagination, she creates fictive architectural spaces based on familiar iconic architecture which she photographs. The camera lens magnifies the model with all its imperfections and reminds the viewer that the photograph has been constructed with a miniature materialized object. This aims to reawaken imaginations for the viewer by creating a space of stillness and reflection for one to drift between reality and daydreams – for rediscovering the universe that is inside ourselves.
Copyright: All pictures in this post are copyrighted Anna Carey. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.
