My works communicate between attempted reservation and cartoonish extroversion. The painting frame, where applicable, is shown in varying degrees of obscured visibility using translucent and opaque layers. Clear or muted communication and the history of past moves are explored through abstraction; filtered and mediated by a broad investigation of disclosure. Through semi-symmetrical gestures of concealing and revealing, competing tendencies to hesitate or indulge reflect the desire to remain private or explicitly share. The resulting images are often quirky, vaguely referential, and even eerie.
Elise Thompson received a BFA from Northern Kentucky University in 2010 and an MFA at Florida State University in 2016. She was awarded the Brian Andrew McLaughlin Award in '14 and '15 and the Mary Ola Reynolds Miller Scholarship in Visual Arts in '16. Thompson attended the Boom Gallery Fellowship + Residency in Cincinnati, OH, in '15 via an Exceptional Opportunities award from FSU. Additional residencies include Vermont Studio Center '16, The Wassaic Artist Residency '17, The Maple Terrace Artist Residency Program '17, DNA Artist Residency '20 + ‘21, and Stay Home Gallery + Residency '21. Thompson was published in New American Paintings South in ’16 and Friend of the Artist vol. 8 in '19 with an interview by artist Taylor O. Thomas. She was featured as an "artist to watch" in VAST Magazine vol. 1 in '20. Recent exhibitions include The Spartanburg Art Museum in Spartanburg, SC, The Wassaic Project in Wassaic, NY, 500x in Dallas, TX, Terrain Gallery in Spokane, WA (remote), Paradice Palase in Brooklyn, NY, and Laundromat Art Space in Miami, FL. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.