Elise Thompson

Born in1988, in Cincinnati, United-States.

Now based in New York, United-States.



Education


2016    Florida State University Master of Fine Arts, Studio Art, 

             Tallahassee, Forida, United-States


2010    Northern Kentucky University, Bachelor of Fine Arts: Painting, 

             Highland Heights, Kentucky, United-States


2009    KIIS Study Abroad via Murray State University, Advanced Photography, 

             Professor Barry Andersen, Jean Monnet FIAP, Paris, France



Awards & Residencies


2022    DNA Artist Residency (October), Provincetown, Massachusetts, United-States

             ChaNorth (August), Pine Plains, New York, United-States

             Innovate Grant, Honorable Mention


2021    DNA Artist Residency (July), Provincetown, Massachusetts, United-States

             Stay Home Gallery and Residency (January), Paris, France


2020    DNA Artist Residency (September), Provincetown, Massachusetts, United-States


2017    The Maple Terrace Artist Residency Program (Inaugural AiR October-December), 

             Brooklyn, New York, United-States

             The Wassaic Project Artist Residency (June), Wassaic, New York, United-States


2016    Vermont Studio Center, with artist grant, (July), Johnson, Vermont, United-States

             International Sculpture Center Student Award Nominee

             Mary Ola Reynolds Miller Endowed Graduate Scholarship in Visual Arts,

             Florida, United-States


2015    Boom Gallery Fellowship (June), Cincinnati, Ohio, United-States

             FSU Exceptional Opportunity Award, Floride, United-States


2014   Andy McLaughlin Memorial Endowment, Floride, États-Unis


Elise Thompson (b. 1988, Cincinnati, OH) received a BFA from Northern Kentucky University in 2010 and an MFA at Florida State University in 2016. She attended the Boom Gallery Fellowship + Residency in Cincinnati, OH, in 2015 via an FSU Exceptional Opportunities award and received the Mary Ola Reynolds Miller Scholarship in Visual Arts in 2016. Additional residencies include Vermont Studio Center, The Wassaic Artist Residency, The Maple Terrace Artist Residency Program,  DNA Artist Residency, Stay Home Gallery + Residency, and ChaNorth Artist Residency. Thompson has been published in New American Paintings South, Friend of the Artist, VAST Magazine, and Maake Magazine. Recent exhibitions include The Spartanburg Art Museum (SC), The Wassaic Project (NY), 500x (TX), Paradice Palase (NYC), Laundromat Art Space (FL), Westobou Gallery (GA), Soft Times Gallery (CA), and Florida Mining Gallery (FL). She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Sheer, layered surfaces call on the intricacies of transparency, both physical and figurative. Areas of these wall-bound works showing restraint emphasize the frame and details below, but through varying degrees of obscured visibility with translucent materials. Many attributes can be withheld or disguised through censored effects or outright obstruction when deciphering what is beneath. Gestures made below, between, and above continue to be seen, in some way, all at once. Materials segmented into architectural arches, fields, and nets allude to a desire for control. Also present are perceived or physical voids, which mirror cartoonish mouths or moments of vulnerability. Alongside structural planes and organic passages, the gaps become part of the image while also disrupting and diffusing. References to entrances and exits hint at places to traverse or be barred from physically or psychologically. Clear or muted communication and the history of past moves are explored through abstraction, filtered via a broad investigation of disclosure. Through semi-symmetrical gestures of concealing and revealing, competing tendencies to hesitate or indulge reflect the desire to remain private or explicitly share. The resulting images are often quirky, vaguely referential, and even eerie.

Group shows at Ceysson Gallery
FIND / FUSE, New York
January 26 - March 11, 2023


Solo Shows (Two and three person) 


2023

FIND / FUSE, Stephané Edith Conradie and Elise Thompson, 

Commissaires d’exposition : Maëlle Ebelle and Francesca Pessarelli, 

Ceysson & Bénétière, New York, United States


2022

Layered: works by Elise Thompson and Rachel Gisela Cohen

Curated by : Hayley Ferber, The Yard, Brooklyn, 

New York, United States

Ctrl [Alt] Self, Curated by : Allison Westerfield, 

Westobou Gallery, Augusta, Goergia, United States


2021

Waiting Room, Curated by : Allison Westerfield, 

Laundromat Art Space, Miami, Florida, United States


2020

Fun Baggage: Brittany Ham and Elise Thompson, Mantle Art Space, 

San Antonio, Texas, United States


2019

Below Ground/Above Ground, Also Gallery, Online


2018

Chunk: Scott Bell and Elise Thompson, 500 X Gallery, Dallas, Texas, United States

Portal 4: Cast Shadows and Feelings, SOUP Experimental and Cat Family Records, 

Tallahassee, Florida, United States


2017

Threw It, Through It, SOUP Experimental, Tallahassee, Florida, United States


2016

Squish Squish Pop Pop: Paintings by Scott Bell & Elise Thompson

Oglesby Gallery, Tallahassee, Florida, United States


2015

Amiable Strangers: Painting by Elise Thompson & Nathan Weikert, Boom Gallery, 

Cincinnati, Ohio, United States



Group Shows


2022

Crimson Tide, Curated by : Brent Hayden and Sarah Choe, 

Soft Times Gallery, San Fransisco, California, United States

Echoes of the Ancient, Curated by : Jacki Davis, Jolene Dosa, 

and Ambrus Gero, 56 Bogart Ste. 122, Brooklyn, New York, United States

A Fluid and Emphatic Now, Curated by : Joshua Edward Bennett, 

Tinney Contemporary at Bobby Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee, United States

Collar Works’ Flat File 2021-’22, Curated by : Kate Mothes, 

Collar Works, Online


2021

Moody, Curated by : Deanna Evans Projects, 

Studio Archive Project, Online

IN THE WAKE OF SLUMBER, Curated by : Natalia Nakazawa, 

Paradice Palase, Brooklyn, New York, United States

Mythopoeia, Curated by : Nathan Mullins, 621 Gallery, 

Tallahassee, Florida, United States


2020

Shapeshifters, Terrain Gallery, Curated by : Joe Hedges

(online during COVID-19), Spokane, WA, Online

home:body, Curated by : Shayna Cohn, Distance Gallery, Online

Living Easy, Where The Sun Doesn’t Shine, Curated by : Bret Shirley, 

BS Projects, Houston, Texas, United States


2019

Ad Astra Per Aspera, Curated by : Will Hutnick, 

The Wassaic Project: Maxon Mills, Wassaic, New York, United States

Soft Science, Curated by : Chelsea Raflo, 

Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, California, United States

Traditions: Compounded, Spartanburg Art Museum, 

Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States

Alternate Dimensions, Miller Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina,

United States

Salad Days, Curated by : Kate Mothes, Online


2018

Excavations; Shindig, Curated by :  Saralene Tapley, 

Mantle Art Space, San Antonio, Texas, United States

F.P.O.V. (Female POV), Commissaire d’exposition : Carlos E. Kempff Seleme, 

MOTT NYC, Manhattan, New York, United States

Annual Faculty Exhibition, Museum of Fine Art, Florida State University, 

Tallahassee, Florida, United States


2017

Wassaic Project Open Studios, The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, 

New York, United States

Utopia/Dystopia, Gallery 2, Washington State University, Pullman, 

Washington, United States

Annual Faculty Exhibition, Museum of Fine Art, Florida State University, 

Tallahassee, Florida, United States

The Figure: Interpreted Through Contemporary Mediums, Site:Brooklyn, 

Brooklyn, New York, United States


2016

Water Hose Project Show, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont,

United States

Fresh American Art, ArtMe Today, St. Petersburg, Russia

The Space Between You And Me, Museum of Fine Arts, MFA Thesis FSU, 

Tallahassee, Florida, United States

The Big Reveal, The Art Academy, Cincinnati, Ohio,

United States


2015

Aqua Art Miami, Aqua Hotel, Miami, Florida, United States

Concrete Acquaintance, Thomas Deans Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia,

United States
Perspectives: Art, Liver Diseases, and Me, Reed Messe Congress Centre,

Vienna, Austria

Art + Language, Phyllis Straus Gallery, Tallahassee, Florida, United States


2014

Built, Working Method Contemporary, Tallahassee, Florida, United States

Last Friday, The Plant, Tallahassee, Florida, United States

10×10, Boom Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Shift, Thomas Deans Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia, United States

MAGENTA Show, Modern Makers at Niehoff Urban Studio, Cincinnati, Ohio,

United States


2013

Material Witness, Curated by : Women’s Caucus for Art 

of Georgia, Dalton Gallery of Agnes Scott College, Decatur, 

Georgia, United States

Unsettled Bodies, Curated by : Edna Dapo, 

Phoenix Center For The Arts, Phoenix, Arizona, United States


2012

Fourth Annual Figurative Drawing and Painting Competition

Curated by : Amy Freeman, Lore Degenstein Gallery, 

Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, United States

Golden Ticket, Curated by : Aaron Betsky, Tina Tammaro, 

and Anthony Luensman, Clifton Cultural Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

The History of the Universe Part One: In the Beginning, Curated by : 

Chris Reeves, Museum Gallery/Gallery Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Bluegrass Biennial, Curated by : Becky Alley, Claypool-Young Art Gallery, 

Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky, United States


2011

More is More, Curated by : Melissa Vandenberg, 

Lexington Art League’s Loudoun House, Lexington, Kentucky, United States

Lady Parts, Southgate House Gallery, Newport, Kentucky, United States

Artists of the 21st Century, Curated by : Andrea D. Rudloff, 

West Tennessee Regional Art Center, Humbolt, Tennessee, United States

Bibliography


2022

Maake Magazine Issue 14, par Kaveri Raina, Maake Magazine,

October 2022

Interview: Elise Thompson’s Otherworldly Abstract Dioramas

Innovate Grant, January 2022


2021

Nolan, Joe, Bobby and Tinney Contemporary Team Up for A Fluid & Emphatic Now

Nashville Scene, November 2021

Mullins, Nathan, Mythopoeia, limited edition, made for the exhibition, 

designed by Drum Machine Productions, Imprimé, April 2021


2020

Artists To Watch | Elise Thompson: Transparency And Ambiguity

VAST Magazine, Issue 1, online & print, August 2020

Meet the Women Behind 2020’s New Lines Alleyway Murals, ArtWorks Cincinnati, 

October 2020


2019

Friend of the Artist Vol. 8 Interview with Taylor O. Thomas, online & print, United States

Hayes, Melissa, Alternate Dimensions at Miller Gallery presents whimsical creations 

in an all-female exhibition, Charleston City Paper, February 2019 


2018

Miller Gallery Features Fresh Work and Faces in “Alternate Dimensions”

Holy City Sinner, December 2018


2017

ArtWorks Cincinnati, Transforming Cincinnati: How a Decade of ArtWorks 

Murals Changed People and Communities Forever, Orange Frazer Press, 

December 2017

DeBlasio, Victoria, VICTORIA DEBLASIO on Elise Thompson’s Threw It Through It

SOUPmedia, April 2017


2016

New American Paintings #124 South, Juror Emily Stamey, June/July 2016


2015

Hedges, Joe. Amiable Strangers: Paintings by Elise Thompson 

and Nathan Weikert, Boom Gallery, July 2015

Seda-Reeder, Maria. Art: Amiable Strangers: Paintings by Elise Thompson 

and Nathan Weikert, CityBeat, July n° 22, 2015

Lauw, Haley. Things That Matter, limited edition, 

in support of the works of Haley Lauw


2013

Grissom, Harriette. Review: Irony overshadows angst, humor edges anger 

in show of women artists at Agnes Scott, Arts ATL, October n° 17, 2013


2012

Redder, Maxwell. Stand-In God, AEQAI Journal of Critical thinking and 

Review in Contemporary Art, July n°29, 2012


2011

Morris, Matt. Lady Parts, CityBeat, June 2011, p15