Elissa Swanger
“Females in society are placed at an intersection where we strive to maintain an internal world and identity while outsiders evaluate us on a superficial level. One of the most obvious examples of this is the common experience of walking down a street, lost in thought, only to have these thoughts interrupted by comments about our appearance. Even “innocent” comments such as “ looking good” or “nice smile” challenge women to maintain our inner worlds while reminding us that by simply being in the world, we function as decoration.
How women occupy space and how other people feel entitled to visually consume them are matters central to my work. I start with the subject matter of women, on stage and so overtly on display, and manipulate material effects to explore how the complex emotional environments created by the subject matter intersect/overlap. The two dimensions of a canvas and paper mimic the shallow depth of the stage, but like the stage, the dimensions can be expanded though an infinite variety of effects. On stage and on canvas, dimensions, perspective and mood can all be created in a very limited space using colors, lights and texture (on stage often with layers of fabric as on canvas or paper though layers of paint). My use of the stage as a setting also calls attention to and plays with the artifice and construction of painting.”
Born in Santa Cruz, California, Elissa Swanger is a painter based in New Jersey. Swanger earned a BA from Swarthmore College and an MFA from Brooklyn College, City University of New York. Swanger has exhibited widely in New York, including Ground Floor Gallery, La Mama Gallery, Bowery Gallery, Artists Space, A.I.R. Gallery, and Knockdown Center. Her work is also part of private collections across America. Recently, Swanger was part of the group exhibit, Willing the Season, at Far X Wide.
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