The human form is viscerally present and mysteriously enigmatic in Sarah Elyse Granetz’s paintings. Using intense colors and dynamic lines that combine rough intensity with calligraphic delicacy, the artist creates images that bring the contours of the body into focus while also turning those contours into iconic patterns. For the artist, making these paintings became an act of self-recognition and transformation. “With color and canvas,” she says, “I abstracted what I had become into prints, impressions of this person I did not know.” Often placing the paint directly onto her skin, and then pressing her skin against the canvas, Granetz gives her canvases a sense of immediacy and urgency, bringing her emotions and thoughts into direct contact with the viewer. Working in acrylics, the artist employs a palette of primary colors, black, white, and subtle earth tones, juxtaposed in elemental combinations. Her compositions, which mix drips and freely drawn lines with a disciplined sense of pattern and structure, focus the energy of those colors, resulting in works that are powerful, distinctive statements. - Agora Gallery Read the entire Press Release here. When I could no longer recognize myself, I knew I had to reclaim what was mine. With color and canvas, I abstracted what I had become into prints, impressions of this person I did not know, until I began to feel like myself again. By acknowledging the wound, I could finally let it heal.
Through this series, My Body Is Not For Sale, I reclaim the way my body is perceived by controlling what you do (and don’t) see. When I first started this series, my intentions were not what they are today; each painting was not a definition of who I was, but an expression of what I could become. Now, five years later, the impressions are that of repair and renewal. Click here to view the statement and paintings available for purchase on ARTmine.com. Thank you to everyone who came out to support me and the other artists at ArtExpo/SOLO 2016! It was truly an honor to meet you all.
Please stay in touch and let me know if I can commission a piece for you or if you'd like to purchase an existing work. Thank you for your support and inspiration! Visit me on Facebook: @SarahElyseStudios xx |