Ellen ORSECK
Artist Statement
Whether I am painting fully clothed figures floating underwater, abstractions of stormy weather or sumo wrestler dolls immersed in chocolate cake, my subjects are characters in a narrative. At times grave and at times beautiful, the subjects are selected to evoke different responses to life, to illuminate, or to call to mind human emotions.
I am fascinated by depicting objects that normally do not belong together or by changing the vantage point or scale of the elements in an artwork so that some characters in the painting are large and others are small; as if two universes combine. The incongruity between the unrelated or the unexpected fascinates me because it changes meaning, it’s where surprising relationships form.
The sumo paintings reference indulgence. Storm subjected artworks are inspired by living in Oklahoma, being obsessed with The Wizard of Oz and surviving hurricanes (Katrina, Rita and Ike). When my father died, I began painting images of people underwater – not swimming or playing in the water, but submerged, fully dressed and floating. I will continue to explore the incongruity of beauty and sorrow and the disconnection and interconnections between people and nature.
