Ellen Cornett “Juxtapositions” at Studio H

Ellen Cornett
“Juxtapositions”
May 15 through June 14, 2010
Opening Show: May 15 from 6PM to 9PM
www.studiohdc.com

Cornett's work begins with words—often short stories, operas or fairytales. But once she begins painting or drawing, she ceases thinking in terms of written or spoken language and allows her subconscious to dictate the content and direction of her work. She enjoys the contrast between very precisely executed drawings of people and objects and their improbable juxtaposition.

In this juxtaposition of characters and objects, Cornett explores the uncertain and the illogical in life through her pastels and her drawings. "Eventually, something clicks. I aim to create work that is evocative whose meaning is ambiguous. As in life, there is more than one truth, more than one answer and in my work there is more than one narrative."



The people who model for Cornett are her good friends, and the props she uses are either personal treasures or things she has made herself. The meaning conveyed by both the props and the people change constantly in Cornett's work and even from day to day. "Today's meaning is not what it may be tomorrow. My relationship to these people and these things is mutable and unfixed. Pictures can express that changeability and ambiguity in a way that words, for me, cannot." explains Cornett.

www.studiohdc.com
Studio H
408 H Street NE second floor
Washington, DC 20002.
202.468.5277

Hours are by appointment.