Lewis Carroll's Alice is seen as a stroppy girl with more in common with ASBO youths than with innocent childhood, in paintings in a new exhibition exploring the darker side of one of the world's favourite books.

The Wonderland Of Alice show at The Gallery, in Kirkgate, Ripon, includes pieces by Richard Walker, a Yorkshire artist who already has garnered the attention of international collectors.

Asked to provide five works based on the Alice stories, he was inspired by Carroll to produce a total of 13. Many juxtapose images of modern disaffected youths with Alice, not least a gesturing hoodie stood side-by-side with a Victorian girl.

Walker also uses the grin of Tony Blair as the disappearing smile of the Cheshire Cat, and other artists in the show see fit to depict Alice as a rebel or as an erotic symbol.

Ripon has strong links with Lewis Carroll, who spent holidays there when his father was a canon at the cathedral.

He wrote part of Through The Looking Glass in the city, and was inspired by carvings in the church: a griffin, a rabbit and a turtle among them.

The bootman at the Unicorn Hotel and the Bellman who opens Ripon market every Thursday both appear in The Hunting Of The Snark, and Carroll also found in Ripon the spark for the first illustration of Alice: a photograph of Mary Hilton Badcock, daughter of the Dean of Ripon. He sent a copy to Sir John Tenniel, the first illustrator of the book, suggesting he should use her as his model.

Daniel Hornsey, of The Gallery, says: "Contemporary artists respond to the Alice stories in many different ways, and we're very excited by the range of work we're seeing for this new exhibition.

"Alice In Wonderland is a book with many levels, and the artists have chosen to show the darker side of the story.

Richard Walker, especially, has strongly underlined the belligerence of urban youth with the hallucinogenic aspects of Alice's adventures."

All the new works are for sale.

"They take a very fresh, contemporary look at the Alice themes, and some are surprising, startling and even shocking, " says Daniel. "For everyone who knows and loves the Alice books, the exhibition will prove fascinating, arresting and inspiring."

Other artists in the show are photographer Alex P, Lucie Bennett, Ellie Howitt, Ronnie Hackston, John Simpson, Wendy McArthur, Jane Kennelly and Jo Dixon.

Also on display are works on Alice themes by Salvador Dali and prints from Sir John Tenniel's original blocks for his first printed illustrations of Alice.

Running alongside this exhibition is a related Through The Looking Glass show of contemporary crafts in glass on the Alice theme, including mirrors and glass jewellery, at the neighbouring March Hare Gallery in Duck Hill.

Among the artists exhibiting are Frances Binnington, who has work in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Tina Free and Robyn Smith. Look out, too, for special Drink Me glasses designed by Andrew Sanders and David Wallace.

The two exhibitions run until May 31.