9/16/2016 Interview with Artist Elizabeth ShupeAHC: Can you tell us a bit about your process, themes & inspirations? Elizabeth: My themes and inspirations generally come from my reading, daydreaming, and personal experiences. They say that you have to feed the well of inspiration before anything worthwhile comes out and I think that's true. I give mine a healthy diet of mythology, fairy tales, literature, feminist thought, history, nature, and sociological speculation. My process starts with unmoored imagery, these dreamlike glimpses of different worlds waiting untapped in my subconscious. The images need something in the real world to draw them out- they need an affinity to a particular physical material, like paint or clay or paper or wax, before they can be expressed. Part of my job is to discover what material best suits the images floating around in my head, because the material is the language that an artwork is “written” in. In the past, my visual art work revolved around images of drowning Ophelias and mutated forest animals, and I found I was speaking in the language of resin, collage, and artificial plants. Lately I’ve been moving more towards images of mourning and loss, so I’ve been speaking in the language of black paint, human hair, gold leaf, and Victorian beading. "Green Saint" oil, acrylic, paper, encaustic, plastic, glass, and resin on panel. Elizabeth Shupe, 2014. AHC: What first drew you to art? Was there a specific moment in your life or turning point where it became clear to you that you were being called to create? Elizabeth: I’ve been creating all my life! It’s really natural for me to create, like eating or breathing or sleeping. I can’t remember a time when I didn't create. The jump to visual art, however, was not a given. Writing was my first love and I began writing stories from the moment I could form a passable sentence in my seven year old scrawl. The first stories I wrote were books illustrated in crayon and held together with staples. I didn't actually take art seriously until I was in high school. And it wasn't until college that I considered visual art my calling. My entire creative career, people have told me that I make art like a writer and I write like an artist. At first, that offended me. But now, I’ve embraced it- if my work exists as a strange synthesis between the visual and the written, that's great! Few creators are occupying that space and it's an honor to be there. As of late, I've been delving more seriously into writing. I promised myself that I wouldn't put up with any creative limit, so we’ll see where that takes me! "Green Witch" oil, acrylic, paper, plastic, glass, and resin on plexiglass. Elizabeth Shupe, 2014. AHC: Who are some of your artistic influences? Is there anyone outside of the art world who has had a huge impact on your work or who just generally inspires you, writers, filmmakers, musicians etc? Elizabeth: My art influences range greatly- from the unknown medieval altarpiece painters to modern masters like Julie Heffernan, Kara Walker, Petra Coyne, Valerie Hegarty, Wangetchi Mutu, and Agostino Arrivabene. My favorite historic art movement is Symbolism; it is unparalleled in it’s beauty, despite the rampant thematic sexism. My favorite individual artists from history are the female Surrealists- brave, visionary women like Leonora Carrington, Dorethea Tanning, Lenor Fini, Remedios Varo, and yes, Frida Kahlo. Some of my current art crushes are more pop- Fuco Ueda comes to mind. Others are more craft oriented- Judith Schaechter and Kate McGuire are two. I tend to gravitate towards art by women and about the female experience. Currently, we as a culture are experiencing a female renaissance of sorts, I hope it continues indefinitely. I am very strongly influenced by writers as well- I try to read widely and often. My favorite writer, hands down, is the great Angela Carter. I also love Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Shirley Jackson, Helen Oyeyemi, James Vandermeer, Elizabeth Hand, Kate Atkinson, James Morrow, and Sarah Waters, just to name a few. Anything weird and wonderful. "Hair Tangle" oil, acrylic, paper, and resin on panel, Elizabeth Shupe. 2014. AHC: Can you talk some about what you describe in your work as the "feminist reclamation of problematic historical tropes" how you deconstruct these problematics both in the work and in your own life and how the two come together for you, the work and the life, the art, the critique and the personal? Elizabeth: Women have a very troubled relationship with the arts. For such a long period of history, we were relegated to the sidelines. Art and writing were things men did and the best a woman could hope for was to become a muse or a model for a great male artist. Women were considered to be artistic subject matter, not artists in their own right. Because of this historical inequity, by the time women got to be real artists, they had to contend with centuries upon centuries of images of women that had been created by men. Instead of starting with a blank slate, female artists first had to tear down the edifices of “woman as image” that had been erected by male artists through the ages. In many ways, female artists are still having to do this, especially female artists who want to work with the human figure. So much meaning has been ascribed on our bodies that entire genres of artistic expression have been created to revolve around the (often sexualized) female image. What is forgotten is the fact that the female image and the female experience are two entirely different things. The presence of a female image does not equal female representation in the arts. In fact, it is often the symbol of our lesser status. Even today, much of the popular art featuring images of women are entirely surface representations where women’s bodies become part of the set dressing for a work or take on idealized, mythological aspects that real women are not allowed to embody. Works like these are very popular, and they do well in the capitalist marketplace, therefore they are considered “successful”. But from a feminist perspective these works are more of the same old boring misogyny that has passed as “art” for hundreds of years. In much of my own work, I try to deconstruct the historical visual tropes of “woman”. The pretty saint, the whore, the helpless woman, and woman as nature- what do those tropes really mean, from a woman’s perspective? In my work, the “pretty saint” becomes the woman frustrated by imposed gender roles and her own social devaluing, the “whore” becomes the woman trying to find her own sexuality in a world that refuses to give her sexual agency. The “helpless” woman becomes the woman who is suffering from physical and mental illness that goes unrecognized by a callous society that would rather see her sick and pliable rather than well and strong. “Woman as nature” is no longer a metaphor for women’s “rightful” subjugation by men, rather, it becomes a metaphor for men’s abuse and rape of both women and the environment. Being a female person, I’ve been trying to wrestle with cultural depictions of women my entire life. Often times a beautiful image of a woman will seduce me aesthetically, but repulse me intellectually. That’s a strange place to find oneself in- how do you acknowledge the power of the beautiful when beauty is a tool that is too often used to subjugate women? The other aspect of the female experience that relates directly to my art making is the creation of the public image of the self- girls are taught from a young age to fashion pretty and unique images of themselves for public consumption, as it is the female image that carries stronger cultural cache then the female intellect or personality. In my work, I am often the subject matter and this feels to me to be a topsy-turvy version of the self- image creation that I am expected to do as a female in a patriarchal society. Only this time I’m doing it in service of my personality and my intellect, not as a replacement for those aspects of myself. I suppose in general you could say that my visual art is one of the primary ways that I process the sometimes troubling and oppressive experiences of being female in a patriarchy. The work is both a direct reflection of those experiences and part of a larger dialogue over who has control over the images of women, who gets to speak for women, and what women’s images and speech signifies. "Open Me" oil, acrylic, graphite, metal leaf, fabric paint, and resin on panel. Elizabeth Shupe, 2016. AHC: Childhood and the sense of play are important elements in your work, is there something you think that is perhaps essentially or almost essentially untainted about childhood and its accompanying sense of exploration and possibility, something that tends to get downplayed in our adult selves, that serves as a reminder or counter weight to many of the problematic tropes you work to unravel through out your pieces? Elizabeth: When you’re often dealing with heavy subject matter, play is so important! You’re definitely right that my playful attitude towards making is a counterweight to those “problematic historical tropes” I mentioned above. My studio is my playroom, my anything goes room, my imagination room. My art supplies are tools, but they are also toys. Like a child wears a cooking pot as a crown or a helmet, I use my art supplies in ways they are not supposed to be used- everything is utilized, repurposed, sacrificed for the imagination game I am playing at that particular time. As far as childhood is concerned- childhood carries a sense of the undiscovered. It carries a sense of the possible- the sheer breadth of what is available in life can excite the young imagination. When you are a child, that creative wellspring is so close to the surface- you haven’t yet obscured it with the debris of life experience and cultural expectation. In this way, childhood is very precious and it should be part of the work of the creative person to preserve and maintain the “child within”. I definitely try to do this, and sometimes it’s hard! Adult life gets in the way- the sheer seriousness of the subject matter I’m dealing with gets in the way. There are times when my inner child is blocked and it can be very frustrating. But still, the child inside in my biggest inspiration- I am my own Surrealist femme enfant, without any of the sexist baggage that phrase conjures up. At the same time, I feel it is important that we do not over-idealize childhood. It is a period of the human lifespan like any other, with it’s own challenges and problems. I feel that we, as adults, should both preserve the child-like aspects of ourselves and also respect the real experiences we had as children and the real experiences of those who are currently children. "Pollination Anxiety" oil, acrylic, encaustic, metal leaf, paper, honeycomb, and resin on panel. Elizabeth Shupe, 2016 AHC: Could you talk some about what you call your "nomadic-by-choice lifestyle" what kinds of nomadic adventures have you had and how has it informed or translated into the work that you do? Elizabeth: For the past year and a half, my husband and I traveled across the North American continent in a small RV van. It was a crazy idea that we wanted to make a reality and we were in a place in life where it was possible, so we made it happen! Sadly, our time on the road is now over- recently, we found a home and a community that we love in Portland, OR, so we decided to settle down. We will never forget our epic trip. Hopefully,the future holds much more travel for us! While we were on the road I learned a lot about myself- I learned what my priorities are, I learned what I really need to be happy in life. Before we went on this trip I was at a crossroads- I had just finished grad school and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. The only thing I knew for sure was that New York was not working for me. It wasn't until I was on the road that I was able to envision what my ideal life looked like. For anyone that finds themselves at a sticky juncture in life with little direction- take a roadtrip! There is something about traveling that allows one to cover vast amounts of mental (as well as physical) ground. While we were living in the van, my work changed a lot. Suddenly, I had very little space and not as many art supplies as I was used to. I started working smaller, and I started doing a lot more sewing and embroidery and drawing - “lap art” as I like to think of it. I started working in black and white, very graphic, as I didn't have a lot of room in the van for different colors and mediums. The work I did while in the van became the basis for my current body of work that is exploring images of loss and familial love. At the same time, I began writing in a serious way- writing does not take up any space and you can explore big ideas. While on the road, I ended up completing a novel- length work which I am currently in the process of editing. I hope to try my hand at creative writing in a serious way in the future. "Christina Closes Her Eyes On The World" ink, graphite, gesso, rice paper, and oils on paper. Elizabeth Shupe, 2013. AHC: What is the first work of art you encountered that took your breath away? Elizabeth: When I was ten or so, I found an an art history textbook of my mother’s. Four works really made an impression on me- “The Ecstasy of St.Theresa” sculpted by Bernini, “The Two Fridas”, a double self portrait by Frida Kahlo, “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymous Bosch, and “Ophelia” by Sir John Everett Millais. I would stare at those four works for hours.That was really the first time I had an acute emotional reaction to works of art. "Made From Delicate Parts" plastic, vintage faux flowers, acrylic, flocking, and laser-sintered nylon 3d print. Elizabeth Shupe with technical assistance from Ryan Kittleson, 2015.
AHC: Do you have any upcoming exhibits or new projects you'd like to tell people about? Elizabeth: As I mentioned before, I am currently working on a body of work that explores concepts of loss, mourning, familial love, and the self. This summer, I did a residency at the Star and Snake in New Hampshire, creating an ancestor veneration installation entitled “Follow the Blood” that became the first completed work in this series. The second of these works is a painting about “speaking the truth” in relationship to our troubled past selves. It is entitled “Open Me” and it is currently being displayed at Alexi Era Gallery in Eugene, OR. Hopefully, there are a lot more to come! I am also happy to announce that my first published short story is going to be coming out this October, from Burrow Press in Orlando, FL. It is a feminist horror story entitled “Angela” and it definitely fits within the pattern of “deconstructing problematic tropes” that my work tends to take. I hope it gets a warm reception! For more information visit elizabethshupe.com. Follow Elizabeth on Instagram @shupeelizabeth. Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2024
Categories |