Bio
Elke Pessl is a mixed media artist working in camera-less photography, drawing, printmaking, and digital methods. Born in Iran to an Austrian father and American mother, Pessl grew up in Asheville, NC. She earned a BA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT and an MFA from Indiana University-Bloomington. She has exhibited at venues such as Gopalan Contemporary Art, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Columbia College - Chicago, Richmond International Airport, and the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy. Her awards include two Individual Artist Grants from the Indiana Art Commission and the Clowes Fellowship for a residency at the Vermont Studio Center. She lives and works in Bloomington, IN.
Artist Statement
My studio practice involves developing an abstract language to explore my relationship to our ever-evolving scientific and technological world. I am inspired by things that lie at the edge of perception, how we understand phenomena, and what that reveals about being human. I enjoy grappling with questions raised by recent discoveries in science such as— What can really be known or measured about realms such as the brain or deep space? How do we reconcile that even as our telescopes and instruments get more sophisticated, what we see and understand of the world is only a small percentage of an extraordinary whole?
Contact elkepessl@gmail.com