"2020" by Alison OK Frost

Alison OK Frost - 2020

Watercolor on Paper

Masks and hazmat suits have long been part of my visual lexicon, serving as a locus for multiple discovered themes: ritual, the uniform as a social mask, death, the fragility of the body, the sacred and even intimacy and vulnerability emerge. In this painting, I wanted to highlight the humanity hidden by the uniform dress and face covering, so that the figure is literally and figuratively emerging from her suit. The ecstatic state of Saint Theresa came to mind as I created in the pose and small bit of exposed flesh an expression somewhere between rapture and plunging headlong into a dark unknown.

Alison OK Frost is an Oakland, CA-based artist. Born in Los Angeles, CA, she received a BA in Fine Art from UCLA and an MFA in Fine Art from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Alison is best known for delicate and disturbing watercolors of current events as pictured in the media, manipulated and stripped down to create an eerie post apocalyptic landscape.

She had one-person shows in 2017 at Fourth Wall Gallery in Oakland and 2019 at Cathedral Gallery in Los Angeles. She has also shown at Kala Art Institute, the Headlands Center for the Arts, the David Brower Center, Pro-Arts and Chandra Cerrito Gallery. Her work has also appeared (in review or interview) in New American Painting, the East Bay Express, Tikkun Weekly, 7x7, SFAQ, the Berkeley Times and Oakland North.

Her favorite drink is Earl Grey tea with lots of almond milk