| AMANDA PAULSON is a painter and custom chalkboard artist currently living and working in Chicago, IL. After graduating in 2008 with a BFA in Painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Amanda dove into the Chicago art industry. She has held positions at numerous galleries, and works annually to produce the SOFA CHICAGO EXPO, a leading international art fair. Amanda exhibits her paintings and collages locally. Currently, Amanda works as a freelance chalk illustrator and muralist, and has been commissioned by such clients as the City of Chicago, Trader Joe's, Native Foods Café, Butcher & The Burger, Specialty's Café, Chic Antique, and privately. `````````````````````````````````````````````` CONTACT amanda.jean.paulson@gmail.com 847.977.5181 ``````````````````````````````````````````````` SHOP Etsy Zazzle |
ARTIST STATEMENT Studio Art
We live in a world of strangeness and beauty, and most of the time we forget how intriguing our surroundings are. The scenes, structures, and objects we pass by every day become invisible, and we lose ourselves in the familiarity of our environment. We tend to remember special events, but forget the passages in-between. My paintings and collages draw attention to ordinary sights, rendering the familiar unfamiliar, and the invisible visible.
Born and raised in Illinois, I continue to be fascinated by the mundane Midwest landscape and lifestyle. My experience of living in the suburban Midwest is an experience I share with millions of other people. Yet, individual perception varies greatly. With a modern take on vintage ideals, my artwork invokes feelings of nostalgia and examines the distortion of our collective memory.
With a focus on color and pattern, my oil paintings also often contradict the size of their subject. Their scale fosters an intimate and captivating relationship with both maker and viewer. When collaging I use found materials to create humorous juxtapositions that usually aim to criticize the loss of childhood innocence and corruption of the American public. The vintage images take the viewer back to another time, but the images themselves move past nostalgia into a conversation about the tarnished state of contemporary society.
Born and raised in Illinois, I continue to be fascinated by the mundane Midwest landscape and lifestyle. My experience of living in the suburban Midwest is an experience I share with millions of other people. Yet, individual perception varies greatly. With a modern take on vintage ideals, my artwork invokes feelings of nostalgia and examines the distortion of our collective memory.
With a focus on color and pattern, my oil paintings also often contradict the size of their subject. Their scale fosters an intimate and captivating relationship with both maker and viewer. When collaging I use found materials to create humorous juxtapositions that usually aim to criticize the loss of childhood innocence and corruption of the American public. The vintage images take the viewer back to another time, but the images themselves move past nostalgia into a conversation about the tarnished state of contemporary society.
