Elise Thompson

available works

BIOGRAPHY

Elise Thompson layered surfaces call on the intricacies of transparency, both physical and figurative. Areas of these wall-bound works showing restraint emphasize the frame and details below, but through varying degrees of obscured visibility with translucent materials. Many attributes can be withheld or disguised through censored effects or outright obstruction when deciphering what is beneath. Gestures made below, between, and above continue to be seen, in some way, all at once. Materials segmented into architectural arches, fields, and nets allude to a desire for control. Also present are perceived or physical voids, which mirror cartoonish mouths or moments of vulnerability. Alongside structural planes and organic passages, the gaps become part of the image while also disrupting and diffusing. References to entrances and exits hint at places to traverse or be barred from physically or psychologically. Clear or muted communication and the history of past moves are explored through abstraction, filtered via a broad investigation of disclosure. Through semi-symmetrical gestures of concealing and revealing, competing tendencies to hesitate or indulge reflect the desire to remain private or explicitly share. The resulting images are often quirky, vaguely referential, and even eerie. Thompson received a BFA from Northern Kentucky University in 2010, and MFA from FSU in 2016. She has been in numerous shows and residencies. She was published in New American Paintings South in 2016 and featured as "artist to watch" in VAST Magazine, 2020. Recent exhibitions include 2024’s "In Quiet Motion" at Helm Contemporary in Manhattan, "Substrate/Structure" at the Delaware Contemporary, Bob's Gallery and The Yard in Brooklyn, Ceysson & Bénénière in Manhattan, the Spartanburg Art Museum in Spartanburg, SC, and The Wassaic Project in Wassaic, NY. See her show review from last year's SPRING/BREAK art fair
in NYC in The Art Newspaper.