ALISON VAN PELT
Viewing Room—Alison Van Pelt
"THERE’S A LOT OF DETAIL IN THE INITIAL PAINTING. WHEN I BLUR IT A LOT OF THAT INFORMATION IS LOST. THE EXCITING PART FOR ME IS THE BITS OF DETAIL THAT STILL COME THROUGH.
Los Angeles-based artist Alison Van Pelt is known for her distinctive painting technique and an approach that merges photo-realism, portraiture and abstraction. She begins by painting a realistic image entirely by hand, then obscures the carefully rendered form by applying linear brushwork to the painting’s surface – thereby deconstructing, distorting or abstracting the image. Van Pelt studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, Art Center Pasadena, Otis College of Art and the Florence Academy of Art, Italy. Her work is widely collected and has been shown at LACMA, the Hammer Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, among others.