About the Artist

Bryn Gleason is a Chicago based Visual Artist, Printmaker, and Graphic Designer. After achieving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 2013, she had her debut solo exhibition at the Green Point Gallery in New York. She has continued to exhibit her work across the United States while curating Art Markets locally. Though Intaglio Copper Etching Printmaking is Gleason’s specialty, she utilizes an impressive array of mediums in her work, including drawing, painting, and wood-based acrylic photo-transfers. While leaning heavily on a black and gray pallet, Gleason’s artistic aesthetic is moody, introspective and eerily captivating. Gleason pulls inspiration from her many years of working in the bar and restaurant industry, her experience as a queer woman, and her fascination and love of dangerous, delicate, and dirty creatures.

About Artist’s Work:

My work is inspired by the darker side of the bar industry, the grittiness and exhaustion of the city, human responses to trauma, love, and healing. My work explores familial and romantic bonds, eternal love, and addictive behaviors. Represented in these works are my family members, my romantic partner, and other queer identifying bodies. I invite the viewing to delve into not only the visuals I present, but also the emotional space within. Whether etching an image into a copper plate with acid, drawing on paper, painting on wood, or playing with other experimental processes, my attention to detail is paramount. My aesthetic is dark, commingling delicate and tedious details with aggressive and sporadic gestures. For me, an emotionally rich image cannot be made in one sitting. It requires patience, practice, and physical delicacy with process.

Find the Artist on: 

http://www.bryngleason.com/

About the Artist

received my Master in Graphic Design from “Sankt- Petersburg State University of Technologies and design”, Russia, Saint-Petersburg. I studied painting, drawing, photo, video and print media, which gave me a great set of skills and exposure to experiences that I use in my work. 

After graduation I was traveling the world driven by curiosity and desire for exploration, I’ve visited over thirty countries and settled down in Shanghai, China for two years before coming to the USA. 

Currently I live in Chicago with my husband and dog, expecting my first child and study in the Post-Baccalaureate program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist Statement

As a woman born and raised in Russia, Anastasiia connects with the importance of feminism. From the treatment of women to how they are seen, she is motivated to create art that pushes the female experience. Anastasiia fascinated by the way different cultures express sexuality and restrict or permit freedom in a gender non-conforming life, Russian society still struggles from the consequences of the USSR and carries harsh orthodox values. Celebrating individuality, modernized sexual experiences across the world, the effects of abuse such as gas lighting and body shaming is what her work addresses in various ways. 

In Anastasiia’s work there are moments of narrative instance with multiple images or figures moving through time and space, although the paintings are based on feelings and emotions the artist experiences. She enjoys to guide the viewer through ambitious experiences by touching on such serious topics as life-death relationships and yet her works still can be read as small anecdotes. This is the way for Anastasiia to be in balance with juxtaposition of life.

What is your “Dreamland” ?

I have always had my own dreamland. I believe I have discovered it in my childhood during one of those moments when I felt small and helpless, when I was under control of the adults and have no voice or choice. The dreamland is a beautiful escape to a safe space: it is created by me and I am the master, the god, the most powerful creature who controls everything, who decides how physics works and how “people” look like. 

It is not only beautiful it is also very addictive. Ever since I found my escape from reality, I would travel to the dreamland every single minute I have with myself. It has become a habit. I would push boundaries of my imagination and see where would it bring me, where would be the limit of my fantasy. 

I have created numerous parallel worlds with unique plots, characters and storylines and depending on my mood I would choose one of them to escape from the hurtful real world every day before sleep. 

Later I started to paint those pleasing places to unite two different worlds I am living in 

Having the dreamland gives me confidence.

No matter what happens I know that there is a place where I am always welcomed loved and important.

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