Alfie Rouy: Earth Eater

Guts Gallery is excited to present ‘Earth Eater’ Alfie Rouy’s debut UK solo show, which explores impermanence, planetary evolution, and the opportunities to find hopefulness in dark times. 

The exhibition is an invitation to behold both the anguish of life and potential to find positivity and pleasure in a moment of time that feels full of pain. This latest peek into Rouy's practice sees him question and grapple with the elements of esoteric writings, contradicting theories of science, and use of the media as a tool to confuse, divide and ultimately spread fear. 

Rouy titles this collection ‘Earth Eater’ with the intention to carry a double meaning. ‘Earth Eater’ names both the cycle of consumption in which Earth’s inhabitants feast on what the planet has to provide and explores how Earth itself is an eater - feeding off of all that is upon it. With the hope to bring into view the ways in which this relentless exchange allows both to mutually develop and change. Expanding his practice to new heights, Rouy finds inspiration in the ideas of ancient philosophies and more recent texts like The Law of One which indicate that earth is currently evolving into a new phase of existence. Rouy has curiously delved into the content of these writings which state the earth is a living entity and suggest chaos is a necessary step for the evolution of a world inhabitable for more consciously developed life. 

Through the paintings included in this series, Rouy explores what this chaos truly means in a landscape of oppressive constructs. He has channelled his tiredness and frustrations with the media’s unwavering use of moral panic and ways in which it interconnects with inequalities and influences societal behaviour. ‘Earth Eater’, in part, is a physical release for Rouy as he attempts to rid himself of this mindset and dispose of old, outdated subconscious cycles of thought that have been imposed on him through-out his life. Viewers are encouraged to explore new pathways of thinking in the same way, and are invited to take a journey through uncanny settings combined with elusive and contorted representations of familiar imagery. Through free-flowing figures, distorted limbs, and exaggerated use of colours, Rouy builds on motifs from his previous work while also developing his style in a more abstract direction. 

‘Earth Eater’ is a daring expansion of Rouy’s collection of work that aspires to uncover blessings in disguise that come from Earth’s evolution. Using symbols that are at times both unsettling and beautiful, Rouy hopes that viewers will think beyond the borders of what we are force fed by certain sources, and indulge in the idea that Earth and everything on it can, like the Phoenix, flourish in its ashes.

Words by Aimee Williams.