Five Car Garage is pleased to present “The Three Fates”, by Los Angeles based artist Alison Blickle. Following her last exhibition “The Myth Inanna” at Kravets Wehby in New York, where the artist’s heroines descended and emerged from the underworld wiser and more resilient. Blickle continues her exploration in mythology as it pertains to women and their archetypal roles in society.  Exploring in paint and symbolic imagery, how these lores resonate now, at a moment where society is hyper focused on the balance of patriarchal and matriarchal power and influence. “The Three Fates”, also known as “The Sisters of Fate”, are referenced in almost every ancient western culture from Greek and Roman mythology to the early Nordic and Celtic belief systems. Shakespeare pays homage to them in Macbeth but twists their intent from the classical version of the white-robed incarnations of destiny, to The Three Witches, also known as the Weird Sisters. The ‘Fates’ had many names, but were characterized by one who spun the “thread” of human life, one who measured it, and one who cuts the thread, thus determining the individual's moment of death. It was women, doing the typical “women’s work” of spinning yarn, who wielded the ultimate power of giving life and bringing death. A recognition of and reverence for what women’s bodies have always done and continue to do.

These archetypal figures bring to mind age-old questions around free will versus fate. Where do we take the reigns and honor personal responsibility, and where do we surrender with grace to a greater force? How much of our lives are determined by our circumstances, and how much can we consciously create? Clearly, to some degree our lives are shaped by forces greater than we are, and perhaps this is where The Fates still live. Blickle’s works here are offerings to these forces and a prayer for guidance while acknowledging and paying homage to these powerful feminine ‘sisters’, and to the resilient life-giving power that women innately hold.

Alison’s work includes oil paintings and ceramics that depict women engaged in mysterious ceremonies. Presented as installations, with objects positioned on the floor or on stands like altars in front of the paintings, the works together tell a story. They suggest that the viewer has entered a sacred space, and that they are seeing remnants of a mystical happening. Figures pose in trance-like, choreographed movements, reflecting Alison’s belief that art making is ritual, and that all ritual is performance.



“I'm interested in creating images of women supporting and connecting with one another. I am part of a community of incredible women: herbalists, witches, midwives, artists, and revolutionaries, and it informs my work…”

Alison Blickle has exhibited widely in the United States and Europe, with recent solo exhibitions at Kravets Wehby Gallery in New York as. She has solo shows upcoming in 2020 in Copenhagen and Paris. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at MOCA Tucson, Nassau County Museum, Deitch Projects, New York University, The Hole, and Beers London. Alison received an MFA from Hunter College in New York in 2009, and a BFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2006. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.