ELISE ANSEL
Ansel’s work transcends time. She is applying her contemporary female perspective to translating Old Masters, addressing centuries of patriarchal, misogynistic, hegemonic narrative.
“My work now is very much an inquiry into my own marginalisation and the marginalisation of other voices excluded from the canon. Old Master paintings were, for the most part, created by white men for white men.”
In our exclusive interview, her discussion of her works brings their energy and beauty to life. “Colour is the protagonist; it creates a link between my paintings and the historical artworks from which they spring. Gesture breathes life into the paintings. Spontaneity, instinct and intuition eclipse rational, linear thinking during the process of making the small paintings.”