Alie Jackson is a multimedia artist based in Austin, Texas. Her work reflects her observations of current events and personal experiences through abstractions in augmented reality, installation, video, painting, sculpture, and textiles. She has over 11 years of experience working on freelance and agency projects with brands in the entertainment and retail space including Lionsgate, Sony Pictures, Marvel, Warner Brothers, Disney+, Hulu, FX, Nike, and Footaction.
Ahead of the Ghosting Miami launch, she talked with Illust about the personal story behind her piece Mangled Metals and how AR helps guide her storytelling.
Tell us a little about the work you’re presenting with Ghosting
My piece is titled Mangled Metals, it’s an abstract view surrounding rapid growth and issues that it brings to my hometown Austin, TX. Austin’s growth has resulted in a boom of land and building development that has impacted our local environment, creative communities, and a massive increase in the displacement of people of color. I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few years about the negative effects of rapid growth in the area, so much that I moved outside of Austin to a small town with a more affordable cost of living. Many of my creative peers are doing the same thing, and this is resulting in the outward migration of Austin’s creative community to small affordable towns in central Texas.
The work was created by freestyling elements and shapes individually in VR and then arranging them together in Blender. The result of the elements coming together resemble an intertwined cluster of metallic objects rotating around a hollow core.
Explain how your surroundings influence your work?
My work is always influenced by my surroundings. This work in particular is heavily influenced by leaving one city and moving onto the next. I was still in between my new and old house when creating this work, I think that definitely shows in the sense of organized chaos it has. Although not reflected in this piece, I find that my current work after moving to a small town has been a bit less chaotic, my process is a bit slower and I’ve started to incorporate more wildlife.
How does translating your work into AR form speak to your practice?
I am really interested in translating a story or feeling using different mediums and seeing if the work takes on new meanings through those mediums. What I love so much about working in AR is the unique experience the viewer has with the work each time they view it. Unlike showing work in a controlled environment like a gallery or on your computer screen, viewing a piece of work in AR is always going to have uncontrolled variables. The lighting, temperature, sound, and location are in a constant state of change.
How does blockchain technology support you as an artist?
This is my first project tied to blockchain, so I am excited to find out! I think the NFT space is exciting for artists that work outside of the traditional ‘art gallery’ model as a way to monetize our work and not have to take on client work to pay the bills.
The people at Illust have had an artist first mentality since Day 1, and that’s tough to find these days. They’ve made this complicated process easy to understand and I love how they have incorporated a payout system for the artists through every future trade of the artwork.
Alie’s work is currently on view in Miami and will be available as a part of the Ghosting Collection 2 Auction September 8-9.
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