Alicia Hoogveld's portrait of "Cassandra"

It’s not quite Lana Turner’s discovery in a Hollywood drug store, but young Calgary photographer and musician Alicia Hoogveld must feel just as star-kissed after being “discovered” on Twitter and signing with New York gallery Galerie St. George as their featured artist in September.  The twenty-four year old recently graduated from Alberta College of Art and Design.  She is working on a new series of self-portraits that will include diary entries documenting the development of each piece.

“The goal of this first album of Alicia’s photography and writings is to make it attractive to collectors, and to build up an audience for her as an emerging artist,” gallery owner Gary Brant said.

“I have every confidence that within a few years time she can have a reputation in the art world like American photographer Cindy Sherman.”

Self-portrait - Alicia Hoogveld as rocker girl

Ms. Hoogveld has been surrounded by creative people from a very young age, growing up in a middle-class home in Calgary, according to Mr. Brant.  Her father Casey, a guitarist/musician and painter, was an early influence.  Ms. Hoogveld learned how to use a 35mm slr camera in her junior high school shop class, developing black and white film and making her own prints in the school darkroom. 

She is also a budding musician, playing electric guitar, piano and singing in a girl band with fellow student Lauren Beardsworth from the age of thirteen.  Ms. Hoogveld later fronted the heavy metal indie group Creature Republic, recording two LPs and a minor hit single “Blood on My Hands”.

Carrying a point-and-shoot camera, Ms. Hoogveld documented her own and other indie bands in Calgary’s underground music scene, and became skilled at informal, live portraiture in a wide variety of settings, from cramped poorly lit club stages to the vast Canadian wilderness outside of the city.

She spent five years at ACAD, which had changed its photography program from fine arts to commercial design, and after she received her B.A. continued with occasional local editorial assignments and band promotional photography, trying to find her way as both an artist and commercial success. 

“My fellow classmates at ACAD were more interested in commercial, studio and editorial photography, which was not the direction I was heading in.” Hoogveld says, “As a result, I was a bit of an outsider in my class of seventeen students”.

 After leaving school, she began shooting young female models, and a style began to emerge in her work which included self-portraits and working in a panoramic sequence, combining several images in one panel.

Her unique viewpoint and camera-handling caught the eye of New York City gallery director Gary Brant in August, who contacted Hoogveld about becoming featured in his Galerie St. George, which focuses on emerging international artists.  Mr. Brant came across her work via the social networking application, Twitter, and a personal blog she started last March. 

“I was struck by the strong feeling that Hoogveld had for her subjects, and her mastery of light and composition under difficult conditions in the field,” Mr. Brant says.  “Now the challenge was to focus her lens on a more difficult subject: herself, and to make a new series of erotic self-portraits that would rattle many conventions, making her work unique in the world”.

Patrons at New York art gallery Galerie St. George, which recently signed Alicia Hoogveld

Soon, a kinship was struck between Mr. Brant and Ms. Hoogveld, and their collaboration produced a new series of photographs involving femininity, self-exploration, sexuality and cinematic story-telling through stark and often blurred imagery.

Ms. Hoogveld was officially joined to the gallery earlier this month, and in her own words, “Thanks to the gallery signing I have had a boost of confidence that has encouraged me to do what I truly want with my photography”.

Her new series of self-portraits entitled “The Passions of Alicia”, document in black & white the mysterious workings of the feminine psyche, the rush of youth to fulfill sexual desires, and the strong commitment of a young artist to honestly present her persona to a public audience.

Hoogveld is now working to complete the new collection, which will comprise ten panel photographs and be accompanied by a hand-written diary that documents each work, giving the viewer a personal insight into the making of these breakthrough photographs.

Upon the release of “The Passions of Alicia”, a video with all of the works onscreen, and with an original soundtrack written and performed by Ms. Hoogveld, will be available for viewing by contacting Gary Brant at Galerie St. George: gb@galeriestgeorge.com.

As the collection goes to completion, interested parties may also see the works in progress at http://www.galeriestgeorge.com, or receive additional information by calling 513-ART-SHOW.

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