Eve Mansdorf

I work primarily on large figure paintings that are somewhat autobiographical and metaphoric in content and still life paintings that are done from observation. I see the figure paintings and the still lifes as interrelated- the same objects will make appearances in different paintings and contribute to the conversation between the paintings. I am interested in arrangement, context and paint itself as a conveyor of sensate experience. I feel that, as a painter, these are the things I to manipulate.

The large figure paintings are conceived from imagination but are based in real life experience and location. The paintings are primarily domestic interiors, usually of couples or single figures. I am interested the nude figure as subject matter and strive to find a pretext for using it other than in the strictly perceptual mode of the model in a studio. Usually the paintings focus on male/female relationships as I see this as a way of exploring identity and sexuality.

The still life paintings are worked strictly perceptually . They often contain references to the figure paintings in that there is a family of objects I tend to work with. Again, I think there is role playing that goes on in the still lifes and a kind of sexual narrative that gets acted out. I look for a relationship between artifacts of culture (both high and low) and nature. The still lifes are predicated on the fact that still life can contain more "non sense", that things can coexist without the kind of contextual reality that the figure demands.

See also: studiomatters.com