The groves, glades and woodlands of Allison Gildersleeve are painted with a vibrant intensity. The theme that permeates her work is the web of memories, images and places from the 200 year old farmhouse where she grew up. The paintings are experiential landscapes, ones to be felt as well as seen. The environments are painted as they present themselves to the artist, not as unpopulated woodlands but as dynamic, ever changing places thick with anticipation, dread, happiness, calm.
Gildersleeve’s artistic courage is revealed by the physical qualities of her paintings. She paints in acrylic and oil on canvas, with a certain location in mind. Layer upon layer of color is applied, based on the drawings and photographs she collects. Different elements from her picture archive are piled on top of each other, like film stills pulled from multiple narratives. She paints until a flickering sensation appears; the work is done when it creates an experience of animation in each picture.
Allison Gildersleeve is an American painter, born in 1970. She lives and works in Brooklyn. Gildersleeve received her M.F.A. 2004 at Bard College in New York, after previous studies at Parsons School of Design in Paris, among others. She has had several solo exhibitions in the US and has participated in group exhibitions both in the US and Korea. Throughout the years she has received several grants and distinctions for her work. She has made three exhibitions with Galleri Andersson/Sandström.