Elise Ansel

Elise Ansel’s work references historical masterpieces, transforming their visual language into a fresh iteration of Abstract Expressionist sensibility. Her physically charged paintings, at once forceful and lyrical, recapture the spontaneity of Franz Kline, the vivid palette of de Kooning and Richter, the intense often disquieting visual poetry of Joan Mitchell and Frank Auerbach.

For Ansel, the act of painting represents an alternative way of seeing, allowing her to engage in an intimate dialogue with her source and to comprehend it on a more profound level. By translating her discoveries of spiritual intentions, psychological and emotional impact into abstraction, Ansel’s paintings succeed in capturing glimpses of the original content. As a result, her works not only serve as a point of departure from the Old Master context, but also as a celebration of [its] values, knowledge and techniques - Buhmann, Stephanie, “Dissecting the Familiar,” 2018

Born in New York City, Elise Ansel received her BA from Brown University and her MFA from Southern Methodist University, Dallas. Ansel was included in the 2018 Portland Biennial, and featured in an exhibition at the David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University in 2018. In 2016, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art presented Distant Mirrors, an exhibition of her paintings and drawings. Ansel has exhibited widely in the United States and England. Her work is in the permanent collections of Brown University, Bowdoin College, the Museum of Contemporary Art Kraków, MOCAK, Poland, the Eli Lilly Foundation and Sopwell House, St. Albans. Elise Ansel lives and works in Portland, Maine.

Born: 1961, New York, NY

Lives: Portland, ME

EDUCATION

1984 BA, Brown University, Providence, RI
1993 MFA, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020 Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT: “Flower of the Mountain”
David Klein Gallery, Detroit, MI: “Palimpsest”
2019 Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK: “yes I said Yes”
2018 Danese/Corey, New York, NY: “Time Present”
2017 Danese/Corey, New York, NY: “Dialogue”
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK: “Amber and Ebony”
2016 Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK: “B Camera”
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME: “Distant Mirrors”
2015 Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK: “Fusion of Horizons”
Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY: “Palimpsest”
2013 Ellsworth Gallery, Santa Fe, NM: “The Invisible Thread”
Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY: “Correspondence”
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK: “Drawn from History”
2012 Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Lenore Gray Gallery, Providence, RI
2010 List Art Center, Brown University, Providence, RI

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020 Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL, “Fête Galante”
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK, “July Exhibition”
“Reaction in Seclusion,” an online exhibition curated by Beatrice Hassell-McCosh in the UK
“Virtual Spring,” an online exhibition, curated by Danese/Corey in NYC
Danese/Corey, New York, NY, “Abstraction: Hot and Cool”
2019 David Klein Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, “Salon, Works on Paper”
Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, “Summer Exhibition 2019”
Sotheby's Institute of Art, New York, NY, “rePRESENTed PAST”
Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK, “Summer Show”
Art on Paper with Danese/Corey, New York, NY
Ellsworth Gallery, Santa Fe, New, "In the Ruins of the Anthropocene"
2018 David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI, “Pushing Painting: Elise Ansel, Nicole
Duennebier, Duane Slick”
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, “Portland 2018 Biennial”
2017 Museum of Contemporary Art Kraków, MOCAK. Kraków, Poland, “Art in Art”
London Art Fair with Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK
LA Art Show with Ellsworth Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Danese/Corey, New York, NY, “re•fer•enced”
2016 Danese/Corey, New York, NY, “Drawing Conclusions”
AAF London with Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK
Ellsworth Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, “Artists’ Choice”
Art New York with Cynthia Corbett Gallery, New York, NY
Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY, “3 Artists”
London Art Fair, with the Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK
2015 Art Miami, Miami, FL, “Art Miami with the Cynthia Corbett Gallery,”
Site/109, New York, NY, “Young Masters/ Focus on New Work”
Ellsworth Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, “Far Reaches”
Sphinx Fine Art, London, UK, “Young Masters/ Dialogues”
Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, “Summer Exhibition 2015”
Conigsby Gallery, London, UK, “Cynthia Corbett Gallery Summer Exhibition 2015, Focus on Painting”
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK, “New Year”
Ellsworth Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, “On the Brink”
2014 Young Masters 2014, Sphinx Fine Art, London, UK
Young Masters 2014, Lloyds Club, London, UK
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK, “Spring 2014”
Ellsworth Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, “ONE”
Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY, “syn.the.sis”
2013 Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY, “Artists Choose Artists”
Sphinx Fine Art, London, UK, “Young Masters at Sphinx Fine Art 2013”
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK, “Summer Exhibition 2013”
Springs Fireplace Project, East Hampton, NY, “Summer Exhibition”
Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK, “Spring Exhibition Showcase Alongside a Selection of Young Masters”
Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead, London, UK:, “Excerpt of Young Masters Art Priz,”
Gallery 27, Mayfair, UK, “Young Masters: The Figure in Art”
Henley Festival, Henley-on-Thames, UK, Oxfordshire, UK, “Young Masters: The Figure in Art”
2012 Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY: “Gallery Artists”
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK, “Summer Exhibition 2012”
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK, “Works on Paper”
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK, “30th Anniversary Exhibition”
2011 Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY, “Gallery Artists”
POP Gallery, Portland, ME
Cadogan Contemporary, London, UK: “Summer Exhibition”
Thomas Moser Gallery, Freeport, ME: “Summer Exhibition”
Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI: “Faculty Triennial”
2010 Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY; Juror: Robert Storr
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mac Adam, Alfred. “Elise Ansel: Time Present,” The Brooklyn Rail, December/January 2019.
Kors, Stacey. “Found in Translation,” Zest Magazine, Winter 2019, pp. 62-67.
McQuaid, Cate, “‘Pushing Painting’ presents the medium’s possibilities,” Boston Globe, June 20, 2018.
Buhmann, Stephanie, “Dissecting the Familiar,” in Elise Ansel: Amber and Ebony, London: Cadogan
Contemporary, 2017.
Mac Adam, Alfred, “Take It from the Masters,” Artnews, March 9, 2017.
Dorsey, David, “All Art is Contemporary Now,” The Dorsey Post, March 2, 2017.
Hanétha Vété-Congolo and Joachim Homann. Distant Mirrors, (exhibition catalogue), Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 2016.
Patricia Ramos. “Elise Ansel: Playing with Abstraction,” Metal, 2016.
Carl Little, “Elise Ansel’s Ab-Ex Annunciation,” Hyperallergic, April 2016.
Jacob Fall and Virginia Rose. “Elise Ansel’s Painterly Revelations,” The Chart, March 2016.
John O’Hern, “Distant Mirrors,” American Art Collector Magazine, April 2016.
Kat Herriman, “Reclamation Project,” Cultured Magazine, Feb/March 2016.
Skye Priestley, “Elise Ansel: A Repainting of Things Past,” Big Red & Shiny, March 2016.
Daniel Kany, “Elise Ansel Gloriously Revisits Calvaert’s ‘Annunciation’ at Bowdoin,” Portland Press Herald, February 2016.
John O’Hern, “Preview for Far Reaches,” American Art Collector Magazine, July 2015.
Lara Santoro, Elise Ansel: Fusion of Horizons, (exhibition catalogue), London: Cadogan Contemporary, 2015.
Christina Arza, Steadfast Arte, December 2015.
Elise Ansel: Palimpset, (exhibition catalogue), New York: Phoenix Gallery, 2015.
Gabrielle Selz, “Artists Choose Artists: A Visual Dialogue of the East End - Part I,” Hamptons Art Hub, December 2013.
Michael Abatemarco, “A Renaissance Renaissance: Elise Ansel Reinterprets the Masters,” In Pasatiempo, The Santa Fe New Mexican, August 2013.
Elise Ansel: Drawing from History, London: Cadogan Contemporary, 2013.
Deborah Weisgall, Maine Magazine., January/February 2011.
Bill Van Siclen, Providence Journal, January 2011.

PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

Bowdoin College Museum of Art, ME
Brown University, Providence, RI
Evansville Museum of Arts and Sciences, Evansville, IN
Museum of Contemporary Art Kraków, MOCAK, Kraków, Poland

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2019 Visiting Critic, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2018 Visiting Artist and Critic, Brown University, Providence, RI
2017 Tutor, The New School of Art, London, UK
2016 Visiting Artist, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
2014 Adjunct Lecturer, Brown University, Providence, RI
2011 Drawing Instructor, Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art (PASCA), Pont Aven, France
2007-11 Adjunct Lecturer, Brown University, Providence, RI

HONORS, RESIDENCIES AND AWARDS