June 8 – August 15, 2020

We are pleased to introduce an exhibit of self-portraits by Ashley Pelletier. While there will not be an opening reception, the store is open to a limited amount of masked visitors at a time. We urge you to go see the work in person as the painterly effects cannot be reproduced by photographs.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, we have all had to figure out how to deal with feelings of stress and isolation the pandemic has caused. For many artists, time in the studio has been a way to cope. Ashley Pelletier found that making work during this time expanded her practice of self-portraiture. Fourteen paintings show her process as it starts with the exterior of the body and goes to the interior - from the representational to the abstract.

____________

Artist Statement

My practice places emphasis on being present, paying attention, and reacting. The works in this exhibit serve as visual records of my feelings and experiences and reflect upon what it means for me to be present. Many of these paintings in this exhibit were made during home confinement, and creating the work has been a bright spot during a very stressful time.

I create small, intimate oil paintings using myself as the subject. Although my practice is rooted in observation, my self-portraits are expressive and abstract. I start with my figure and let the painting evolve from there. Sometimes what I paint is more concerned with my outward form; other times, an internal structure is my focus. By working from my reflection, I examine my mental and emotional state. I build my paintings through several layers of scraping and manipulating. My mark-making represents a genuine and intuitive reaction to my subject matter.

Biography

Ashley Pelletier lives in Riverside, Rhode Island. She received her BFA in Painting from Rhode Island College and is an employee of the RISD Museum.

For more information about the artist: www.ashleypelletier.com

*All the works are for sale, email peripheryspace@gmail.com for prices.

~

Featured below is an interview with Pelletier conducted by Suzanne Schireson, an artist that works in drawing, painting, and animation. Schireson is the recipient of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Fellowship for Drawing and two Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grants. She has an extensive exhibition history both nationally and internationally. She is an Associate Professor in Drawing and Painting at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Interview via email: June 16-20, 2020

Suzanne Schireson: Can you describe how you landed on the flipped self-portraits?

Ashley Pelletier: When I started to make the flipped paintings, I was painting them with the bottom facing up, but I kept getting too distracted by the figure. By flipping them I found that it took the focus off the figure, and the painting became more about the brushwork and the color. It felt more like a complete painting instead of a picture of a person. It’s interesting because all of the flipped paintings were made during the pandemic. This was not intentional, but flipping the image also feels like a metaphor for our world right now.

SS: Do you work exclusively out of a mirror? What does that enable you to see or capture?

AP: Yes, I work exclusively from a mirror. When I paint, I am very interested in the perception of what I see in front of me and what’s occurring psychologically. The mirror is important because it keeps me present. It enables me to be aware of myself exactly as I am at that given moment. There’s a lot that can be revealed about yourself when you’re staring into a mirror for several hours. As someone who's struggled with identity, making self-portraits and working from a mirror has taught me a lot about myself and allowed me to get to know myself in ways I had not. By examining myself in this way, I’m always learning.

SS: Do you find more “truth” in a self-portrait than painting from a model? (Personally, when I paint myself, I feel this freedom to distort, whereas if I paint another person it can feel as if I am exploiting them in some way.)

AP: Yes, I absolutely do. One of the primary reasons I paint is to find the truth within myself. I find painting from a model to be more an exercise in observation, whereas self-portraiture is about an internal analysis. I agree with what you said completely. When I’m painting self-portraits, I can take more liberties than when I’m painting others. I don’t view others through the same distorted lens in which I view myself. I can accept the unflattering and sometimes harsh ways in which I depict myself, but I can’t do that to others.

SS: What themes do you navigate in your work?

AP: My paintings work with formal themes as well as themes of identity, and themes of gender naturally fold into that. I look at ways I’ve been preconditioned through my personal life and in a broader, global context. In trying to find myself, I’ve learned about the forces that have sculpted me up until this point.

SS: The physicality of your materials (the way you wield a brush) seems to suggest the body as much as your painted description of the figure. Can you discuss the relationship between the two?

AP: Yes! There’s a de Kooning quote that I love, “Flesh was the reason why oil painting was invented.” Oil paint is very important to me because of this connection. The way a material is used says much about an artwork's content and subject. I don’t only want to depict the figure, but I want to feel it in the image. I work in several layers and am constantly scraping and reapplying paint. It's important to me to engage in the physicality of the material just in the way that a human body is so physical.

SS: Can we nerd out painter to painter for a minute? What kind of blue do you use the most (cerulean, ultramarine, cobalt, manganese)?

AP: There are a few blues that I love, but lately, my favorite is Prussian. I love it because it’s really great for mixing dark values while still maintaining chroma. It’s very strong so I have to remember to use it in moderation. I’ve been mixing it into everything lately!