Since I was a young child, I’ve been drawn to images of the intimate. Moving around a lot meant I developed an awareness of my own subjectivity from an early age, and learned to see myself in relation to what surrounded me. My interest in the most familiar space- that of the body- took me deep into artistic traditions of realism. In recent years, I’ve become interested in the objects and spaces these figures inhabit, and what I can learn from looking at my own looking.
In moments of stillness, light, shape and textures become a world unto themselves. In my work, these everyday domestic scenes often contain an underlying unease. These paintings inhabit a world that is stripped of noise and activity, almost claustrophobic. I’m interested in the blurred line between quietness that suggests rest and stillness that evokes desperation. Is my hiding place a sanctuary or a prison? Can the way I see myself really be trusted?
–> mari.elaine.lamp@gmail.com
Education
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, MFA, 2017
The School of Representational Art, Chicago, 2011-2012 (Atelier course of study in drawing/painting)
Houghton College, NY: B.A. in Art and Writing, 2007
Exhibition History
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Fixed Gaze, Fine Arts Center, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ
2019 Current Sea, Stanley Brown Jewelist, Chicago
2014 It Seems Violent To Me, MPSTN Gallery, Chicago
Group Exhibitions
2020 Trade Ya, Alumni Gallery, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
2019 Contemporary Juried Exhibition, 215/610 Contemporary, Delaware County Community College
2018 The Poetics of Re-Presentation, The Woodmere Museum Annual 78th Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia
2017 Playbook, On Stellar Rays, New York, NY, curated by Josephine Halvorson
2017 Apparitions, Fjord Collective, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Annual Student Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA
2017 Wet Paint, Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, VA curated by Harry Cooper, National Gallery of Art
2016 Happiness, Liberty, Life, Gallery 128, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
2016 RBTL College Art Association’s MFA Annual Regional Exhibition, American University,
Washington DC
2016 Bodies, Stella Elkins Tyler Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
2015 It’s The Thought That Counts, Gallery 128, PAFA, Philadelphia,
2014 Group Format, Uptown Arts Center, Chicago
2014 A City to Wear, Research House for Asian Art, Chicago
2013 Memory, Lacuna Artists Lofts, Chicago
2013 Benefit Auction, Autumn Space Gallery, Chicago
Teaching
Holy Family University, Philadelphia, Drawing Instructor, Fall 2017 – Fall 2021
Affiliations
Member, AUTOMAT Collective, Philadelphia, PA, 2018 – present
Residencies
Scholarship Awardee, Chautauqua School of Art, Chautauqua NY, 2016
Awards
Eagles and Angels Award, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Collections
John and Susan Horseman Collection, St. Louis, MO
Publications
mari.elaine.lamp@gmail.com
mari elaine lamp 