We present our sixth solo exhibition for Portland-based Elise Wagner, in which Ms. Wagner unveils Genesis, marking a new direction in her work.  Genesis focuses on the complex formation of her expansive geologically layered encaustic surfaces.  This body of work also uses line organically as the genesis--lines intersect, overlap and at times form grids like the unfolding of a map, creating a synthesis with the artist's own life transformation.

My work explores the contradictions between the chaos and unpredictability of nature and our lives, and science’s heroic efforts to understand our universe through the wonders of its exploration. Engagement with my immediate surroundings and various current concerns continually fosters a preoccupation and fascination with science, nature, the sublime and the celestial.

By staying open and curious, my studio practice and means of creating is rooted in continual unearthing.  Inspirations for my work often coincide with discoveries that I find compelling and awe-inspiring. Past examples have been the God Particle, Higgs-Boson, Dark Matter, Solar Flares and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Now, the recent and enormously significant discoveries about gravitational waves were uncovered. Ripples began subconsciously appearing in the surface of my paintings. I’m creating folds, waves and intervals of pictorial space interpreted through an entirely different and more vibrant color palette.

Genesis, my most recent body of work, marks a new direction, focusing on the complex formation of my geologically layered surfaces. The current work embodies all past and present aspects of my narrative and creative language. Line is used minimally and forms organically as the genesis; they intersect, crinkle, overlap and at times form grids like the unfolding of a map, creating a synthesis in some ways with my own life transformation.

Elise Wagner, 2016