Wish You Were Here! Rose Sanderson’s Witty Postcards Conjure a Strange Reality

Like many artists, Rose Sanderson began a body of work during the early days of the pandemic as a sort of balm for the harsh realities of the world. “I started playing with escapism and imagination, mixing reality and fiction, and the blurring of childhood memories and nostalgia,” she says of her surreal paintings on vintage postcards. “Many of the images are in seaside towns, influenced by growing up in one myself through the ’80s and ’90s.”

Playing with scale, Sanderson renders scenes that evoke the Creature Features of early cinema: an enormous crab is on the verge of scuttling over a beach filled with people, a tiger lounges alongside an unsuspecting man, and a zig-zagged fissure bisects the ground around an amusement park. But thanks to the artist’s wit, the paintings are more humorous than horrifying, plunging viewers into a bizarre dreamland where the uncanny is always lurking around the corner.

a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of an enormous spider on an ice berg
“Shipping hazard”

Sanderson has been collecting the postcards from thrift stores, antique shops, markets, and online retailers for several years, which she’s added to a collection started by her grandparents. “There is something special about these snippets of history that give me a warm fuzzy feeling, and I love a lot of the aged, saturated colours, too.”

Having reached 50 paintings, Sanderson’s series will be on view from November 11 to December 23 at Aberystwyth Arts Centre. A limited-edition book featuring all of the works will be available as well. Follow along for updates on the artist’s Instagram.

a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of an enormous crab looming over donkeys on the beach
“Watching donkeys on the beach”
a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of a tiger lounging among beach chairs on the grass
“Camouflage”
a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of worms emerging from the hills
“Worm holes”
a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of a wind up mechanism on a car
“Wind up car”
a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of a green monster emerging from the sea
“Sea serpent surprise”
a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of a zigzag fissure through a beach
“Mind the gap”
a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of an enormous rodent peering over a lakeside park
“Cavia porcellus monstrum”
a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of a dinosaur wandering through a campground
“Days gone by”
a painting by Rose Sanderson on a vintage postcard of a person riding a slug on a beach next to people riding horses
“Seaside ride”

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