A. Elizabeth Allen-Cannon
Region: Midwest
For me, painting is a place to explore the amorphous and unstable
qualities of feminine stereotypes, as well as constructions of
feminine authorship and selfhood. What characterizes a feminine
gesture? Is it hesitant? Sassy? Insecure? Demure? Anemic?
How does one construct the self while both identifying with and
being repulsed by traditional gender scripts? These questions
produce a range of style and mark-making that subverts the
singular authorial voice, resulting in a schizophrenic femininity
across the work. Often the content feels dated, sentimental, and
matronly. Floating paper envelops the picture plane, contrasting
with ejaculatory cartoon lines. Smiling in self-deprecation,
folded paper insists on being read as transparent even though
the content feels opaque and substantial—especially when
painted on wood panel. I am interested in painting as a site for
the obsessive untangling of the past and for endless projects of
self-reinvention as a means to achieve emotional autonomy. In
the end, what emerges is a nebulous femininity engaging
in caricatured acts of genius and failure—contained yet
claustrophobic, inept yet dominant.