Izzy Losskarn

Lives and works in Elmira, NY

Artist statement

A forgotten bunch of bludgeoned Bananas, a bent-up collection of Safety Pins, Shocking Power outlets, and Peeling-Product Stickers — these useful items are familiar harbingers of daily living under contemporary capitalism. Perhaps you left your Bananas out too long while waiting for the perfect ripeness, or you pricked yourself on a pin while looking for a paperclip, or you just can’t get that little pesky price sticker off no matter how much you gunk your fingernail up trying. Izzy Losskarn makes art about that — that way that capitalism unjustly drives and divides culture along lines of race and gender, that way that capitalism keeps us too busy to eat our bananas before they rot, or wonder about the history of brand icons like Miss Chiquita — the woman who popularized the layman’s favorite yellow fruit. Losskarn makes big, hyperrealistic pastel drawings which visually phrase questions like these with a subtle and sophisticated cadence; each drawing of hers is a work of color theory and visual metaphor that offers a calculated feminist critique of gender, sex, and contemporary popular culture.

Artwork