Jan Nigro, Alice through Windows, oil on canvas

The latest 3D film of “Alice in Wonderland”; starring Johnny Depp was directed by Tim Burton.
Burton’s Alice is 19 years of age. Ken Ralston, Senior Visual Affects Supervisor said of the film “we are just trying to put you right in the middle of this strange world and take you on this journey”. An apt time then to revisit Jan Nigro’s Alice, a young New Zealander in her 30s travelling overseas” For Nigro’s Alice New Zealand is wonderland, and in her paintings Alice moves from contemplating her journey, to the journey itself, and facing choices that awaken her to new thoughts and ideas. As in Carroll’s Alice Nigro’s Alice is accompanied by various animals, some passive and watching others threatening. A lot has been said of the place of painting and narrative in art today; it has been in practice for thousands of years and as in film the strength of the story is in the narrative and the innovation is found in the presentation. Nigro shows painting allows for both as she borrows from Lewis Carroll and creates a strong suite of works that are topical and challenging. Confirming as Dr Robin Woodward says, her “place as one New Zealand’s foremost figurative painters.”

Jan Nigro, Alice and the Two Queens, oil on canvas



Jan Nigro, Who stole the tarts, oil on canvas.



Jan Nigro, Alice shaves her head, oil on canvas



Jan Nigro, War of the Roses, oil on canvas

Jan Nigro, Aspects of Alice in a Changing World oil on canvas