Using energetic gestural abstraction, Elise Ansel translates Old Master paintings into a contemporary pictorial language. She mines art historical imagery for colour and form, setting aside the narrative and pictorial elements of these paintings and thus creating room for new interpretations. Her works interrupt linear readings of Old Master paintings, repurposing and highlighting the unexpected. The representational content is transformed into a celebration of colour, gesture and the materiality of paint. In the process of reducing her inspirations to their most fundamental forms she retains their power and energy, replacing imagery with dynamic movement and dramatic colour and light.
‘Elise has assimilated the originals at an unprecedented level, an almost atomic level, a level in no way attainable without absolute mastery of form and materials, before exploding them onto the canvas as her own' Lara Santor
Her work deconstructs authorial agency in order to excavate and liberate meanings buried beneath the surface of the works from which her paintings spring. Old Master paintings were, for the most part, created by men for men. Abstraction allows her to interrupt this one-sided narrative and transform it into a sensually capacious, non-narrative form of visual communication, repurposing the patriarchal language and misogyny that dominates the history of art. Her retelling of these paintings is infused with the joy of interrupting history, replacing the past with raw expression and embracing multiple viewpoints.
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Diana II, 2022oil on canvas102cm x 84cm (40" x 33")
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Fragment II, 2022oil on canvas102cm x 84cm (40" x 33")
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Diana and Acteon, 2022oil on canvas112cm x 127cm (44" x 50")
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Esther, 2022oil on canvas152cm x 102cm (60" x 40")
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Family, 2022oil on canvas102cm x 127cm (40" x 50")
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Fire Feathers, 2022oil on canvas102cm x 127cm (40" x 50")
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Fragment, 2022oil on canvas102cm x 102cm (40" x 40")
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Cloud III,oil on linen152cm x 122cm (60" x 48")
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Cornbury I,oil on canvas165cm x 152cm (65" x 60")
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Cornbury II,oil on canvas117cm x 117cm (46" x 46")
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Europa III,oil on canvas69cm x 76cm (27"x 30")
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Europa V,oil on canvas69cm x 76cm (27" x 30")
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Through The Walls
Group Exhibition 17 Jan - 4 Mar 2023 London -
Elise Ansel
Polarity 30 Nov - 18 Dec 2021 LondonCadogan Contemporary are delighted to announce a new solo exhibition of works by Elise Ansel. ‘Polarity’ is a concept that has always defined Ansel’s practice. Using energetic gestural abstraction, she reinterprets old master paintings into a contemporary pictorial language in the process creating a tension between the source material and her own artistic voice.Read more -
Yes, I said Yes
Elise Ansel 1 - 18 Oct 2019 London
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Polarity
Elise Ansel | Exhibition Catalogue 2021CatalogueRead more -
yes I said Yes
Elise Ansel | Exhibition Catalogue 2019 Read more -
Amber and Ebony
Elise Ansel | Exhibition Catalogue Published by Cadogan Contemporary, 2017CatalogueRead more -
Fusion of Horizons
Elise Ansel | Exhibition Catalogue 2015CatalogueRead more
Born in New York City in 1961, Ansel studied at Brown University before gaining her MFA in Visual Art at the Southern Methodist University. Her works have been exhibited in group shows and solo exhibitions across the United States and the UK, and are held in public and private collections worldwide. Her first exhibition with Cadogan, ‘Drawn from History’, was held in 2013.
EDUCATION
1993 | MFA Visual Art Southern Methodist University |
1984 | BA Comparative Literature Brown University |
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 2022 2021 2020 |
'Recent Work', Miles McEnery Gallery, New York 'Time and Materials', Auxier Kline, New York 'The Women', Carol Corey Fine Art, New York 'Palimpsest', David Klein Gallery, Detroit, USA |
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2019 | 'yes I said Yes', Cadogan Gallery, London | |
2018 | 'Time Present', Danese/Corey, New York | |
2010 | List Art Center, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island | |
1996 | Hanes Art Center Glass Gallery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
2023 2022
2019/2015 |
'Together & Apart, A Legacy of Abstraction: new work by Elise Ansel, Caroline del Giudice, Alisa Henriquez, Rosalind Tallmadge', David Klein Gallery, Detroit, Michigan 'She -Wolves', Space Gallery, Portland, Maine 'Multiple Choice', ABNY Gallery, East Hampton, New York
'Summer Exhibition', Royal Academy of Arts, London |
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2019 | rePRESENTed PAST, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York | |
2016 | LA Art Show with Ellsworth Gallery, Los Angeles, California | |
Art New York with Cynthia Corbett Gallery, New York | ||
2015 | London Art Fair, with the Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London | |
Art Miami, with the Cyntha Corbett Gallery, Miami, Florida | ||
'Young Masters/ Focus on New Work', Site/109, New York |
COLLECTIONS
Museum of Contemporary Art Krków, MOCAK, Kraków, Poland
Eli Lilly Foundation, Indianapolis, Indiana
Art Masters Solutions, London, UK
Cristina and Joe Craft, Chair, Dept. of Internal Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
Evansville Museum of Arts and Sciences, Evansville, Indiana
Wilfrid Zogbaum, New York, New York
Bibliography
Alfred Mac Adam, The Brooklyn Rail, January 2019
Stacey Kors, ZEST, Winter 2019
Niall MacMonagle, The Independent, December 2018
Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, June 2018
Alfred Mac Adam, ARTnews, March 2017
David Dorsey, The Dorsey Post, February 2017
Patrica Ramos, METAL, November 2016
Carl Little, Hyperallergic, April 2016
Kat Herriman, Cultured Magazine, Feb/March 2016
John O’Hern, American Art Collector, April 2016
Daniel Kany, Portland Press Herald, Feb 2016
Jacob Fall and Virginia Rose, The Chart, March 2016
Christina Arza, Steadfast Arte, December 2015
Gabrielle Selz, Hamptons Art Hub, December 2013
Michael Abatemarco, Santa Fe New Mexican, Pasatiempo, August 2013
Deborah Weisgall, maine., January/February 2011
Bill Van Siclen, Providence Journal, January 2011
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ELISE ANSEL | ARTISTS & ILLUSTRATORS | FEATURE
Artists & Illustrators , March 1, 2021 -
ELISE ANSEL | SHE CURATES | INTERVIEW
She Curates , October 1, 2020 -
ELISE ANSEL | ART & OBJECT | FEATURE
Paul Laster, Art & Object , June 30, 2020 -
ELISE ANSEL | LUX MAGAZINE | FEATURE
LUX Magazine , October 10, 2019 -
ELISE ANSEL | ARTFIX DAILY
ArtFix Daily , October 9, 2019 -
ELISE ANSEL | HARPER'S BAZAAR
Frances Hedges , Harper's Bazaar, October 4, 2019 -
ELISE ANSEL | THE LONDON MAGAZINE | INTERVIEW
Eric Block, The London Magazine , October 3, 2019 -
ELISE ANSEL | THE WEEK
The Week, October 2, 2019 -
ELISE ANSEL | PLAIN MAGAZINE | FEATURE
Kala Barba-Court , Plain Magazine , September 25, 2019 -
ELISE ANSEL | TREBUCHET MAGAZINE
Naila Scargill, Trebuchet Magazine, September 20, 2019 -
ELISE ANSEL | CREATIVE MAINE MAGAZINE | FEATURE
Stacey Kors , Creative Maine Magazine , January 6, 2019 -
ELISE ANSEL | INDEPENDENT IRELAND | FEATURE
Niall McMonagle , The Independent Ireland , December 24, 2018 -
ELISE ANSEL | BROOKLYN RAIL
Alfred Mac Adams, Brooklyn Rail, December 20, 2018 -
ELISE ANSEL | ARTNEWS | FEATURE
Alfred Mac Adam , ARTnews , March 9, 2017 -
ELISE ANSEL | METAL MAGAZINE SPAIN
Patricia Ramos , Metal Magazine Spain , November 15, 2016 -
ELISE ANSEL | HYPERALLERGIC
Carl Little, Hyperallergic, April 9, 2016 -
ELISE ANSEL | PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
Daniel Kany , Portland Press Herald , February 21, 2016 -
ELISE ANSEL | CANVAS SAATCHI ART
Canvas a blog by Saatchi Art, December 8, 2014 -
ELISE ANSEL | PASATIEMPO MAGAZINE
Michael Abatemarco , Pasatiempo Magazine by The New Mexican , August 23, 2013 -
ELISE ANSEL | THE MAINE MAG
The Maine Mag, December 9, 2010