FERNBERGER

On the occasion of our exhibition Elana Bowsher, Vicente Matte, Gabriel Mills (June 2–July 14, 2021) , we spoke with the artists about their work.

Elana Bowsher

Los Angeles-based Elana Bowsher paints graphic iconography inside glowing outlines and comic-book-esque scenes, activating feminine abundance in her contemporary pop paintings.

Q: What does your process for composing the paintings in your Collage series look like, especially in relation to the Collage title?

A: I make tons of drawings. Then I use a digital projector to crop and fragment these images from my sketchbook. I collage together different bits and pieces of several drawings to make a new one. The final painting is less straightforward, and that’s more interesting to me.

Q: In your paintings, you boldly embrace a feminine aesthetic, rendering graceful gestures, juicy fruits, and fashionable clothing and accessories. What about your feminine style inspires you? What do you hope the female abundance in your paintings will communicate with the viewer?

A: Fruits, female figures and nudes are part of art history, so I borrow from there. Also, I was a serious ballet dancer growing up, so grace, lines, and gestures are still part of how I see and interact with the world. That’s probably how these elements have made it into my painting.

Q: When looking at your Collages A and B side by side, they seem to be related. The periwinkle triangle on the lower-left register of Collage A appears to extend into the similarly-colored sleeve in Collage B. Also, the same figure reclining in Collage A is reflected in a hand mirror in Collage B. How do you imagine this environment, and how do they relate to each other?

A: Actually, the two blues are different in each painting if you look closely. But yes, the two paintings are related. Even though this is a three-person show, I was thinking about installation while making these paintings. If the two are next to each other, they might tell a different story than if they were separated. Maybe the woman in the mirror in Collage B is a reflection of the woman in Collage A. I’ll leave it up to the viewer to decide what’s happening…