Elise Ferguson

Elise Ferguson’s work is about the flexible nature of perception. Using pattern and color, the paintings are based on mathematical puzzles and geometric variation. Irregularities in the painting’s surface and the depth of the relief suggest tension between illusionistic space and the paintings’ physical surfaces. Traces of process and history of each layer is revealed in the beveled edges of the panels. Deckled with plaster build-up, their unkempt edges create a tension between control and order recorded on the painting. Her goal is not perfection: visible scuffs and pencil markings attest to the process. The colors and patterns are often intense, designed to create a tension between an abstracted figure/object and ground.

Ferguson’s compositions are cerebral yet physical, and reflect her endless fascination with materials and their physical limits and capabilities. Simultaneously, she revels in the pleasure of creating something resolutely optical: concentric circles, radiating grids and undulating patterns. Although abstract images, things often begin to resemble “something”, occasionally creating illusionistic space or a composition that appears representational. This tendency is reflected in the titles as a means of embracing the associative nature of looking, thinking and naming.

Elise Ferguson lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She has had recent solo exhibitions with Romer Young Gallery, San Francisco; White Columns, NY; and at Barton College, NC; and Illinois State University, IL. Her works have been included in exhibitions at Luhring Augustine, Team Gallery, Dieu Donne Papermill, The Sculpture Center, Andrew Kreps, CRG Gallery, Longhouse Projects, NY; Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland; Norwich Galllery, England; Lothringer Dreizen, Munich; among others. She has been awarded several residencies including at MacDowell Colony, Socrates Sculpture Park, Dieu Donne Papermill, and was the 2014 winner of the Expo Chicago Northern Trust Purchase Prize. Ferguson is represented by Halsey McKay Gallery and Romer Young Gallery.