Allison Schulnik: Eager Too

Ten paintings and three sculptures by American artist Allison Schulnik.

"I paint rejects, misfits and their landscapes. My fixation on these characters is not intended to exploit deficiencies, but to find valor in adversity. Whether hobo clowns, misshapen animals or scarecrows, they are usually built upon a human frame, often times the frame of myself, loved ones and sometimes people I have never met, which at times give them an awkward humanity. Drawing from film, music, cartoons, dance, I like to blend earthly fact, blatant fiction to form a stage of tragedy, farce, and raw, ominous beauty – at times capturing otherworld buffoonery, and other times presenting a simple earthly dignified moment." —Allison Schulnik

Schulnik choreographs her subjects in compositions that embody a spirit of the macabre, a Shakespearian comedy/tragedy of love, death and farce. The subjects often stare back at the audience and study them as they are in turn studied, aware of their ancestors from the Grand Theme works of the past, the genre paintings that inform them. Although a haunting sense of foreboding, discomfort and unease is palpable, a sense of understanding and compassion for her cast of characters is still evident in the heavy impasto paintings. Her sculptural use of oil paint references her clay-animation background, as a motion-like sensibility affords her paintings unparalleled depth and energy.

Published by Nieves, 2013, staple-bound softcover, 16 pages, 10 x 7.7 inches.