My oil paintings explore a curiosity and fondness for a traditional subject, the human figure, and utilize a representational vocabulary to examine an interest in interpersonal interaction and communication. In my paintings and drawings, shifts between multiple painting and drawing languages create tensions between the figure and ground, creating discontinuity in otherwise continuous and unified figure/ground relationships. Thus, the image fluctuates between being recognizable and confusing, present and absent, familiar and foreign, representational and abstract, and, at times, physical and digital. Thematically, the tensions that exist reflect the complex nature of interacting with people and places in the twenty-first century.

born: 1981, Charleston, SC

education:

Clemson University, MFA, 2007
Studio Art Centers International, Post Baccalaureate Certificate, 2005
Furman University, BA, 2003

selected awards/honors

First Place Award, Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts, VA, 2009
International Artist Residency, Poli Talu Art Center, Estonia, 2009
New Faculty Research Stipend, Missouri State University, MO, 2009
Museum Purchase Award, Pickens County Museum, SC, 2006

selected publications

Palo Alto Art Center, Figures and Faces Exhibition, Palo Alto, CA

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Palo Alto Art Center, Figures and Faces Exhibition, Palo Alto, CA
Obelisk Home Gallery: Elizabeth Snipes, Springfield, MO  2010 Craft Studio Gallery, University of Missouri: Distant Proximities, Columbia, MO, 2009
Etherredge Center Upper Gallery, University of South Carolina-Aiken:  Mixed Signals, Aiken, SC, 2007

selected group shows

The Coburn Gallery:  Contemporary Painting, Ashland, OH, 2010
Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts:  Connections, Fredericksburg, VA, 2009
Pacific Art League, Figures and Faces, Palo Alto, CA, 2009
Pickens County Museum:  Twenty-Ninth Annual Juried South Carolina Artists Exhibition, Pickens, SC, 2008