Hello, again! If you’ve been browsing the blog lately you may have noticed first, that there’s been a desperate lack of posts as of late and second, that I’m redesigning the look of things around here. A few months ago I was offered a semi-dream job that’s been a year in the making. In addition to accepting that position, I continue to do part time freelance consulting for the boutique nursery I managed back in San Diego. Keeping up with the demands of both has meant less time for Plant Propaganda.
What’s more, I’ve burned out a bit on the content and theme of this blog. The stuff that I’m doing now and that interest me have become much more varied, and I don’t get a sense of accomplishment from simply curating others’ work, which means I’m less motivated to put together that type of subject material. I don’t get paid to write this blog and I certainly don’t have an enormous amount of followers: I maintain it as an outlet for myself and to share what I’m working on with like-minded individuals. Moving forward my hope is to start sharing more of what I’m excited about, including lots of original content, and less curated posts, even if that means the blog becomes somewhat off topic.
I hope any loyal readers out there will give me feedback as I move forward. In the meantime, I’ll ease into things with some of the content you’re used to. Today, that means sharing the beautiful paintings of Clare Elsaesser.
Clare lives and works in the small coastal town of Jenner, California, which sounds downright picturesque. Her works are unique in their obstruction of the subjects’ face, often by impossibly lush bouquets of flowers. And although their faces are obscured, her portraits are more rich in feeling for it – despite their muted pastel colors, they give me an almost eerie sense.
Over on designer Tara Hurst‘s blog, Clare mentioned the struggle to feel confident in her artwork, and also that she had just finished reading a book about dealing with mental illness. I wonder if these feelings contribute to the implied shyness of her pieces?
Prints of Clare’s work as well as original pieces are available for sale through her Etsy shop.
Paintings © Clare Elsaesser
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3 Comments
Hi there,
So my first reaction to these was, oh more pictures of girls with their faces obstructed by flowers, but then i got to thinking, why do i keep seeing this theme, and what does it mean?
I’m glad you mentioned the artist’s struggle and what she had been reading because it made me think twice before dismissing the images. There is a shyness implied here, but I guess it’s troubling to me that there seems to be this theme lately of female bodies with heads/faces replaced by other things, or out of view. What does it mean? Is objectification of female bodies more acceptable if the image is “pretty” or if the model is faceless? Is it even objectification at all? Why don’t we see this motif with male models nearly as often?
Obviously I’m not offering any great insight! Just got me thinking and wondering what other people have observed or think about it.
I also just want to add that I do really like Clare’s work – she is undoubtedly talented! – and don’t mean to sound critical of her work in particular.
Laura, thanks for sharing your insight! To be totally honest – and I hate to admit this – my first thought was, “what a great way to avoid having to paint faces.” I am a decent artist but I am horrid at capturing the human face – isn’t that always the hardest part to draw? And I thought Clare’s approach was clever. Of course, that’s just me projecting my own ineptitude and laziness on someone else’s clearly high-caliber art, so take it with a grain of salt.
Your thoughts I think touch on why these paintings felt a bit “creepy” to me – I think you’re right that by obscuring their faces they become objects and not people. In a way, the use of large bouquets of flower almost equates the women themselves to a still life. Literally an object. I agree the pieces are lovely, and I think Clare would be happy to know they have generated such a discussion regardless of their intent!