Elise Thompson

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Artist statement

Sheer, 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, encouraging the viewer to rove for better visual access, which is not always gained. 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.

Artwork