KELLI THOMPSON

My work explores the ways in which a woman’s body is often delineated into parts based on purpose and function. Pairing distinctly feminine anatomy with the sexual organs of flora, I explore aspects of my own physical existence as a woman. In separating parts of the female body and then isolating them I point to the way in which treating the body based on definitive female functions often serves to define the woman as a whole.

With this work, I intend to address the guilt, fear, anxiety, and profound unknown when confronted with the limitations of physicality. Recalling popular color palettes from my childhood, I create painted gradients on which to display my figures.

Through the pristine level of finish in my subject matter, I am able to participate in the historical tradition of realistic portraiture and still life painting, while the juxtaposition of these objects against abstracted formal elements situates them firmly in an artificial space. Using this combination of painting styles I am able to both highlight and re-contextualize realism.